What time of year is it OK to wear white?

Q: What time of year can you wear a white dress?

Great for all seasons White dresses werent made solely for summer. White clothing comes in fitting throughout the year: summer, winter, autumn, or spring. You can never go wrong.

Q: What is the rule on wearing white?

Since Labor Day typically represents the end of summer, a rule was established that you shouldnt wear white after Labor Day if you didnt have the money to take fall and winter vacations. It was also used as a way to identify those who needed to work and those who didnt.

With so many mixed messages surrounding how to wear white, when you can wear white, and how you should do it, it’s no wonder that so many of us seek the comfort of a dark color palette. Forget everything you’ve heard about these pseudo-stringent rules (“no white after Labor Day,” etc.), and embrace wearing fresh whites at any point during the year. Yes, summer whites may be the most intuitive, as they include the breezy linens like button-down shirts and the cotton dresses we typically take with us to the beach. But what about winter whites, the more underrated of the washed-out neutrals? We love how layering different shades of white and eggshell make for a fresh combo, no matter which dates our calendars display.

Table of Contents Show

Words in This Story
Basic Rules for Wearing White
Don't Wear a White Dress to a Wedding
Warmer Climates Usually Have More Leeway
Wear Off-White in Cool Weather
Avoid White Clothes in City Environments
Wear the Right Shoes
White Clothing After Labor Day
The Choice Is Yours
Can you wear white any time of the year?
What months can you wear all white?
What time of year can you wear a white dress?
What is the rule on wearing white?

Go on to see how to wear fresh white pieces (and head-to-toe monochrome, if you're so inclined) during every season.

Spring

For spring, try swapping out one key item for its white versions, like jeans or a blazer.

A delicate white dress is a closet staple, and while it's not quite warm enough to wear on its own in spring like it is in the summer, it works well layered underneath a long coat.

This Monday is Labor Day in the United States – a holiday linked to workers’ rights and wearing white.

That may sound strange, but it is true. Many Americans put away their white clothes on Labor Day and do not wear them again until the following May, after Memorial Day.

One reason for the clothing custom relates to the season. In the United States, the months between June and September are summer. The weather is usually hot, including in Northeast cities like Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York. Many people there historically wore light-colored clothing in the summertime to keep cool.

Judith Martin is an expert on manners – in other words, on how to behave politely. She spoke to Time Magazine about the history of wearing white in the summer. She said Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s wore formal clothes all year long. Wearing white clothes in the summertime may have felt more comfortable because “white is of a lighter weight,” Martin said.

Then, in about the 1930s, wearing white clothes in the summertime became fashionable, too. That is because some wealthy Americans in Northeast cities went on vacation for weeks or months in the summer. They stayed in costly hotels or summerhouses. The white clothes they wore there became linked to ease, beauty and money. But at the end of summer, around Labor Day, they put those white clothes away and returned to their lives in the city – as well as to their darker, heavier clothes.

In time, not wearing white after Labor Day became a bit of a fashion rule. Following it showed that you were wealthy -- or at least that you knew how to act like you were.

Today’s fashion magazines, however, advise readers to ignore the rule. They point to Coco Chanel, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama, who have appeared in white in all seasons.

But you may want to be careful about wearing white to an American-style Labor Day barbecue. The trouble is not fashion – it is ketchup. If it spills, the popular red tomato sauce can ruin a nice set of clothes.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English with reports from Reuters and Time. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

comfortable - adj. not having any physically unpleasant feelings : experiencing physical comfort

fashion - n. a popular way of dressing during a particular time or among a particular group of people

Beauty & Style
Women's Fashion
Fashion Tips for Women

Del Sandeen

Del is a prolific writer with over 20 years of experience in freelance writing with several online and regional publications. She is also a published author of several books and a parenting anthology.

Learn about our Editorial Policy.

Depending on where you live and your age, you may not have even heard there were rules about wearing white clothing. Typically, women who grew up either in the Southern part of the United States or were born before the 1980s are more familiar with this particular fashion etiquette. However, the South experiences much warmer weather than the North, making it the ideal region to wear light colored clothing, even in winter. You'll probably get different answers to questions about rules for wearing white, so keep the age and background of women in mind if you're curious.

Basic Rules for Wearing White

With the modern day emphasis on style being more of an individualized concept than of people blindly following advice without knowing the original basis, you might feel there are no hard-and-fast rules to follow when it comes to fashion. Still, if you're more of a traditionalist, are afraid of showing up wearing the wrong thing or just like sticking to style guidelines (even if others say they're outdated), you can follow these "rules."

Don't Wear a White Dress to a Wedding

This is one that most fashionistas seem to agree on. The only woman who should wear a white dress to a wedding is the bride. It's fine if your ensemble has white in it, but head-to-toe white for anyone but the lady exchanging vows is generally seen as a no-no.

Warmer Climates Usually Have More Leeway

If you live in a tropical environment, white clothing probably seems necessary, even in winter, especially if your days are full of 80 degree weather. You can probably pull off cute summer dresses in light colors year-round, and no one in such a hot climate will bat an eye.

Wear Off-White in Cool Weather

If you just love white and the way it complements your complexion, but you're still afraid to wear it during the winter, choose off-white, cream, and beige clothing instead. Even die-hard fashion traditionalists usually O.K. winter white.

Avoid White Clothes in City Environments

For anyone who lives in a bustling city and relies mainly on public transportation, wearing white clothes is akin to courting disaster. Between subways, taxis, dirty seats, and puddles, it would be a miracle for a white dress or slacks to make it through the day unscathed. This is one of the main reasons you see so many metropolitan women sticking to black ensembles - not only are they slimming, they don't show dirt as much.

Wear the Right Shoes

Heavy black pumps paired with lightweight white dresses can be an odd combination. If you wear a white dress in the spring or summer, better options include natural toned or white sandals. If you choose to wear white in fall and winter, brown shoes still look better than black (and for sticklers to the rules, white shoes should be avoided after Labor Day).

White Clothing After Labor Day

There was a time when people stuck to the rule that white clothing was only "allowed" between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This was summertime, after all, a time for picnics, barbecues and a general carefree way of life. Because this fashion rule is decades old, young people today may wonder if it is okay to wear white after Labor Day. They may not have ever had anyone explain it to them and break down the difference between summer and fall's fashion colors.

Again, this is usually a regional issue, but even many people in Southern states have relaxed this style rule. Some call it cutting edge when women boldly go forth in white during the winter, while others are going to make snide comments no matter what. Fortunately, there are no real fashion police who can arrest you for breaking fashion laws, so if you want to wear white clothing from January through December, the choice is yours.

The Choice Is Yours

Maybe you grew up hearing the rules for wearing white and you're a stickler for them. Or you may have heard these rules and decided to wear what you want, when you want, anyway. Fashion changes all the time, so what was considered a "law" at one time could be outdated today. Traditionalist or fashion rebel - when it comes to white clothing, the choice is yours.

Can you wear white any time of the year?

Etiquette expert Emily Post agrees that you can wear white every day of the year. The decision is "more about the fabric choice today than color." This rule is evident when thinking about white wool or cable-knit sweaters. Post says to "wear what's appropriate—for the weather, the season, or the occasion."

What months can you wear all white?

The idea that white should be worn exclusively between Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September is said to have originated from the late 19th-century, when the upper classes took off to summer homes for the warmer months, leaving behind the grime of city life.

What time of year can you wear a white dress?

Great for all seasons White dresses weren't made solely for summer. White clothing comes in fitting throughout the year: summer, winter, autumn, or spring. You can never go wrong.

What is the rule on wearing white?

Since Labor Day typically represents the end of summer, a 'rule' was established that you shouldn't wear white after Labor Day if you didn't have the money to take fall and winter vacations. It was also used as a way to identify those who needed to work and those who didn't.