There is a winter white color that I've seen people wear in the cold months - but not "white" white. We've had such a mild winter that people are now in their shorts and flip-flops - but some of us still have on their winter socks and sweaters, plus a scarf for color and to keep our necks warm in the air-conditioned office......sheesh.....

Teresa

I am familiar with Winter white - that sort of creamy white that has just the faintest warm under tone... but that isn't what I am talking about. I mean white white!

Now truth be told, I haven't worked in an office for about 10 years, so maybe I am that out of touch, but I just don't get the white white in March!

Alexa

What part of the country are you in?

No white being worn in Portland now, and will be precious little in June either. The Great Gatsby never quite made it to the wooly Northwest.

On the other hand, in Southern California, where I am just this second, wearing white in March wasn't unknown. It seems that when the weather turns summer-ish, and even spring-ish, the paperwhites and white slacks emerge. When I lived down here, I used to wear white linen a fair bit. Of course, it only looks good as long as you're standing. Have they developed a wrinkle-resistant linen yet?

I thought it was between Easter & Labor Day. And I also thought we weren't supposed be bound by silly rules like that anymore. But heck, what do I know?

Did you see Serial Mom? ****spoiler alert**** but she kills that woman for wearing white after Labor Day. You've been warned!

I thought it was white shoes one never wore between Memorial and Labor Day....I used to have a pair of white velour stretch pants....wouldn't be wearing them in the summer....and a white velour skirt that I wore with a cute Christmas sweater, white panty hose and red shoes....OY!

And a lady always wears gloves, white after Memorial day, and a hat when she goes out in the evening....Right?

LindaC, I was told you ONLY wear white shoes between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I always thought it was dumb, but that's what Grandma told me. She always made me wear a hat to church too, said a lady must cover their head.

I never wear white pants because they just get dirty too quickly, but frankly, I wear whatever I want whenever I want and no one here really cares. Of course, I don't much notice what other people wear either because it makes no impact on my life whatsoever and I think such "rules" are outdated and silly.

Well, that's no totally true, I did notice the camouflage pajama pants at the Wesco station Sunday...complete with house slippers! Sorry, that is one of my personal fashion rules, I do not wear pajamas out in public!

Annie

No rules here in SoCal. We can get summer-like weather and only know it's winter cuz the sun goes down early, LOL.

But you can wear patten leather shoes at Easter. That is, if anyone other than little girls wear patten leather anymore?

Annie, I saw Tweetie bird flannel pj bottoms (a BIG bottom it was too!) sitting outside the dollar store last week! I just about croaked!!! I don't even wear pj's to walk the dog when it is dark out and there is no one to see me! And I see way too many slippers in the Food Lion store.

Teresa

The only reason to have a rule like that is so that one can criticize or put someone else down for breaking it. It gives certain people a reason to feel superior to others and is completely irrelevent in today's society, and it has always been a silly rule.

I had a professor from England who was teaching a color theory class when I was getting my design degree. When discussing the color pink, he said that men could not wear pink. I happened to be wearing a pink tie that day (It was the 1980s), and so he ammended that by saying, "except for a pink tie." The next day I showed him a family portrait taken on the farm in Texas, and in this picture I am wearing a pink shirt, pink slacks (from Brazil), pink socks, pink plastic shoes (from Greece), a pink belt (from Neiman Marcus), and pink tinted aviator sunglasses and standing on a McCormick tractor with my family. He then said to me, "I stand corrected!" My point is that rules for colors make no sense in a democratic society.

I have studied fashion history extensively and learned that many fashion rules were created identify one's status in society so that others would know whether they were allowed to speak to you or not. Fortunately, that society is in the past. We still have rules about what to wear to certain functions, such as awards ceremonies, formal parties, and funerals, but those apply only to those attending those events and do not concern the general public.

Lars

My Mom said no white shoes until after Victoria Day (our May weekend) and back in the closet after Labour Day.

As for white slacks and skirts I choose not to wear them until it's seems warm enough! March would not be it!

Alex, I hear you about clothes in an office setting...sometimes I just shudder at what I see especially customer facing employees.

Lars you are wonderful.

John - I am in suburban Philly. I do think fashion norms are different across the country and I think I am just used to seeing lighter more summery outfits when it is seasonally fitting. We are still quite likely to get a spring snow before we can close the door on winter and it seems somehow inappropriate for someone to be wearing a thin little top and white dress pants to work before the daffodils are in bloom.

I can honestly say I have never seen ANYONE in PJ's or slippers out in public in my area. However, I do see a lot of tennis whites, riding britches and boots or golf clothes at the grocery store. I just assume those people are stopping on their way home from whatever activity they were participating in to pick up necessities. I'm not bothered by it and I don't think anyone else is either.

I read (with interest!) your comment on hats. I rarely wear one for fashion sake, if I do have one on it is a big floppy straw deal that I am trying to block a little sun while gardening. I like hats, but as was mentioned on the other thread, there is not a lot that is pretty about "hat head".

I do agree though, in a warm climate people wear a lot of things in the late fall and early spring that just seem out of place in the colder areas of the country.

Alexa

Wow - I'm sorry of my post sounded snobbish re: the attire I do see here in my grocery store. I was just trying to point out that people do wear unusual outfits when shopping, just not slippers or PJ's!

Alexa

Oh, Lars, I would LOVE to see that photo! ;-)

I was taught the "rule" about when to wear/not wear white. But here in Baltimore, it seems that "anything goes." I see bare midriffs and short shorts as soon as the snow has melted. And today, the temp is in the high 70s, the daffodils and cherry trees are blooming, and the magnolias are starting to open, so ... it's already summer!

Sue

I think there is a lot of difference in fashion based on climate, which makes sense, although not all of it makes sense. As a child, I loved sweaters and always had quite a few of them and seldom got to wear them. When I did wear them to school, I would have to take them off midday and then carry them home in the afternoon, or else I would get overheated. I loved winters in Texas because I got to wear more clothes then. I never liked autumn colors, however, and never understood them, possibly because we did not have fall colors in nature, and certainly no snow in winter. I didn't wear dark colors at any time of the year because again I would get overheated by the sun when I would go outside or walk to the house from the bus stop. I almost never wear dark colors here for the same reason - when the sun is out (which is most of the year), I get hot if I wear black. The only time I got to wear much black was in San Francisco, where it was cold all year. After 12 years of living in cold climate of San Francisco, I have gotten it out of my system.

I will say also that I have gotten severe criticism in both New York and Vancouver for my color choices in fashion. In Manhattan, I was accused of dressing like a pimp, and in Vancouver I was told not to wear tropical colors outside the tropics, even though it was summer in Vancouver. I was actually able to buy very brightly colored clothes in Vancouver that had been made in London or Germany, including bright yellow patent leather shoes from German (I bought them on Robson St) and some fluorescent chartreuse, black, and white zebra print pants from London. I scared a few people in Seattle when I wore those pants, but they looked great under the black light at the discos.

The main fashion trend that I find offensive is when everyone dresses alike, and I have noticed that a lot in New York and Seattle, but then I never liked the grunge look. It's all a matter of personal preference, but I prefer not to look like everyone else.

Lars

Alexa you dint sound snobbish at all.....I'm not sure you could even if you tried!

Back to work! How can that be when you still have boys barely out of diapers ;)

Much ado about nothing. Thank you Lowspark, Lars and Gina. I agree, at least in part with all of you. We should worry about more important things, and yes I have walked down in my very private backyard to check out the plants while wearing Pj's and robe and found myself wandering here and there. all over the yard, pulling up weeds.:-) I really don't think those rules hold true anymore, in most places, regarding white, white shoes etc. It just occured to me that my grandmothers were born in mid to late 1800's.

We've sure been having VERY springlike weather lately. Not wearing white but going out without a jacket and enjoying the spring weather, where I live. And...spring is only a week away.

I grew up in Connecticut. Hard and fast rule growing up was white was between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I still observe it.

I agree, Lars, you're wonderful. And I remember that picture of you on the tractor too.

Jude, your back yard (or mine, for that matter) is not "public", IMO. I have a privacy fence on three sides of the yard to shield the swimming pool and the house on the fourth side. No one can see my backyard unless they are inside my house or standing in my backyard.

Going to the store in my house slippers and pajamas though, that's something else entirely, although upon reflection I realize that those pajamas actually cover up a lot more of the person than some of the outfits I've seen teenagers wear here in the dead of winter....

So, I'll walk into the backyard and pick a tomato for my breakfast while I'm wearing my pajamas, but I don't go to the grocery store in them. If you are on your own property, I don't consider that "out in public".

Here we see people in golf clothes and people in jeans and cowboy boots and people in suits and ties and people in hunter's orange and everything in between. That's all fine with me. We are far more working class and blue collar and farmers than anything and so we are far more likely to see Carhartts and Levis than white slacks. In fact, I don't think I've seen a woman wearing white slacks in years, not even in the local banks or law offices. A man either, they just aren't practical.

So, I agree with my original premise. I wear what I want to wear, whenever I want to wear it. Everyone else gets to do the same. If you don't dress for the season and the weather, then you get to be uncomfortable in the name of fashion. That's your prerogative.

But I'm still not wearing pajamas to the grocery store....

Annie

I also never wear white before Memorial Day but my daughters think that's a crazy, arbitrary "rule". Here, as soon as the weather hits 45 degrees you'll see people in shorts, t-shirts, etc. especially those 25, or younger. I would be surprised to see white in an office this time of year but in today's fashion world...one never knows.

Jude, my maternal grandmother lived between 1836-1913. My paternal grandmother from 1848-1911. Talk about living in a different world!

/tricia

LOL! Just to clarify - I'm not talking about what someone wears in her own backyard. I have a pair of flannel lounge pants that I have run out in on more than one occasion to chase a deer our of the garden, but I back to 1500 acres of state park, so the likelihood of running into someone out there at 5 AM is slim.

I was truly only curious to hear opinions about wearing white in public this early in the season.

And Jo & Triciae - maybe it's a New England thing? Remember, I am a transplant down here, my heart is still up north!

And thanks to you too Sharon :-)

Alexa

Didn't mean to imply my backyard, or anyone else's, was public. Silly me, I just threw that in for no reason.

The rules change in really warm climates like Hawaii or Florida and Southern CA where it's quite warm even in winter. I don't wear white pants in the winter. We do get winter here in Northern CA. A wet messy time. White is not practical.

I never wear white shoes unless they are tennis shoes. I really like white sneakers.

I live in the north and can honestly say I have never worn white pants before Easter and usually not before Memorial Day. I've always worked some form of retail and that rule was important to me. I managed a women's clothing store for ten years, so I may be a little more conscious of the rules than most.

Nancy

Well....what does "wear white" mean? I have never hesitated wearing a white cotton blouse in January, and I remember a white winter coat my mother had with a white fox collar. In highschool I had a white angora sweater I wouldn't dream of wearing but on a very cold day as it was downright hot!
And my grand daughter bought a nifty white pea coat with black buttons as her "not-a-ski-jacket" coat last winter.

And then there are the rules about linen.....not to be worn except between, Memorial Day and Labor Day except in the tropics

Rules like that show you "know" what nice people do. Like the rules about which fork to use and how to hold a spoon properly, not like a shovel in your fist.

Here's a fun article from Time/US pondering the question of white after Labor Day. For those who care about such things, Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition, 2004, says the "rule" is no longer applicable.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Time/US Wearing White

Yes, that's what Lars said, it's a way for some people to feel superior and give them reason to criticize others who they perceive as lesser.

So a person who was raised in the wild by wolves or otherwise has the horrible upbringing which would allow them to commit the social sin of wearing white pants in March will probably also have awful table manners and not be a nice person?

Annie

Annie, you may have nailed it! LOLOL

After the horrible outfits I saw on people at the Philadelphia Flower Show, I am on a one person campaign to get people to look a little more respectable in public. Wearing old jeans that are too loose or (more often) too tight,and so long they drag on the ground and are filthy and shredded at the hem is just wrong.

As for white, I guess I associate it more with the temperature than the calendar. If it is stinking hot before Memorial Day and my coolest pants are white, I am going to wear them. I don't own any white shoes so that's not a problem.

It seemed to be stylish for young girls to wear their pajama bottoms around for awhile. I haven seen any lately. I guess if you are high school age and your own bottom is cute, then why not, for fun.

I live on a corner and have no privacy so I can't run out in my nightgown to weed the garden. I've taken the trash cans to the curb at night in my bathrobe, just hoping I don't run into a neighbor walking the dog, although they wouldn't care.

I'll join your campaign Pam!

" I am on a one person campaign to get people to look a little more respectable in public"

Alexa

Yay, that makes two of us. Thanks.

Make that 3.....and I would also like to avoid eating in the presence of those who lean their left arm on the table and surround their plate like someone might snatch it while they shovel in with the fork in the other fist.

Pam, I agree that the weather determines to a degree what I wear. I probably think in terms of Easter, for spring/summer clothes, although obviously the date varies, and again the weather is a factor. It's not so much about white with me, but lighter weight and sleeve length. And when it gets warm I wear sandals but not necessarily white.

I would like to join your campaign, also.

Ditto what Jude31 just said. I'm on the same bus....

sorry I can't join you, I'm spending all my extra time learning to eat with utensils and trying to figure out what a "nice" person actually means.

Plus, I'm at Elery's, we're going to his Dad's on Saturday. one day, down and back, it's the only day Elery has off for the next three weeks. It's supposed to be 80F there on Saturday. I packed before I read this. Black dress slacks, black sleeveless top with white beading, white sandals that I borrowed from Ashley because I had no shoes with heels to wear with those new pants.

So, yeah. Sleeveless AND white shoes. In March and I'm no where near close to California so I can't be exempted. I'm going to burn in he!! for it, I know, and I'll never be a nice person.

Annie

Annie if you wear a hat all will be forgiven!

Pajama bottoms in public - what is WRONG with parents? Oh, yes, I forgot - mom is likely wearing a velour track suit with "Juicy" emblazoned across her bottom, and teetering around on 5-inch platform sandals. Don't forget the pink rhinestone studded phone case, a la Carrie in Sex and the City.

Actually the trend here in SoCal among youngsters seems to be going in the neater, prettier, less slutty direction - thank god.

"There ain't nothing I can do
Or nothing I can say
That folks don't criticize me

But I'm going to do
Just as I want to anyway
And don't care just what people say

If I should take a notion
To jump into the ocean
Ain't nobody's business if I do"

The no white during the winter is pretty passe. Lots of designers have embraced it and I think it's pretty common. Also, I don't remember the product, but, there is a commercial that's been playing this year where a woman says something about wearing white whenever she chooses. Probably just legitimizes the attitude even more for some. I don't care what people wear in public and I'd for sure be strongly against anyone trying to promote an adherence to what they consider "more respectable". Now if there was a campaign for people to be more tolerant, accepting and supportive of each other, I'm there. Maybe remembering that the root of respectable is actually respect might put another light on the subject.

Here is a link that might be useful: Billie Holiday

"Now if there was a campaign for people to be more tolerant, accepting and supportive of each other, I'm there. Maybe remembering that the root of respectable is actually respect might put another light on the subject."

Bless you.

Eileen

The no white during the winter is pretty passe.

That was my understanding, too. Now I think someone would look pretty silly wearing a white linen suit during a snow storm, but white as such wouldn't phase me as long as the overall look was season/weather appropriate.

I don't remember the product, but, there is a commercial that's been playing this year where a woman says something about wearing white whenever she chooses.

ROFLMAO, Coconut!!! That commercial is about time of the month, not time of the year!

LMAO.. oh hush foodona...lol.. I'm old. No wonder I didn't pay attention to the product. LOL.

I had to make a stop at the walk up teller window yesterday. I was joined in line by a man wearing what looked like pajama bottoms. I had to give those bottoms a surreptitious once over. They were chef's pants. Unfortunate baggy style, however.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chef's pants.

Sounds like we've decided that anything goes on anyone anywhere and anytime as long as your table manners are good. Cool. Anyhoo, I am going to put on some fluorescent yellow stretch tights and go for a bicycle ride. I will wear black and shiny silver gloves, white socks, bright blue shoes, a blinking helmet, dotted with various corporate logos. Whatever fashion faux pas are committed in street clothes, are nothing compared to the horror of "activewear". Let that console you the next time the ladies are giggling about your white garment on May 29th.

WHITE socks? Heaven forfend.

May 29th is my birthday so I do hope there will be much giggling.

I don't much care what color anyone wears as long as it COVERS them! I don't need cleavage, cracks and whatever else.

I don't even own white pants (tan Dockers, yes). I'm a slob. What can I say. Saves on the clothing budget if I rarely wear white. I DO wear white tops in the summer and have off white sweaters for winter.
I'm in the no rules camp.

I live in a casual community and no one really cares.
I like that.

Deanna

I seldom see anyone around here wearing white anytime. As John said, it's just not a Portland thing.

But if anyone does, no one much cares.

Lars, did you ever hear in your design course that Pink used to be for boys and blue for girls? Pink was considered the "stronger" color. (So Yay for you and for the tractor.)

Let us not forget Gainsborough also painted a Pink Boy in addition to his Blue.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Gainsborough The Pink Boy

The Pink Boy painting is very nice. When we were at Huntington Gardens with DS and BIL, we saw the original Gainsborough Blue Boy, and I took pictures of it. Across the hall from it was "Pinkie", which is not quite as nice a painting, and I think The Pink Boy would have been a better choice.

In Mexico and much of Latin America (especially Brazil) pink is considered a masculine color, especially magenta in Mexico. Traditional wedding colors vary from culture to culture as well. Even in Europe color traditions vary. Unfortunately, our country was settled by the drab Puritans who had way too many rules. The Puritans didn't make it to Texas or California, however, and so I was never really indoctrinated into their traditions - I was brought up more with German traditions, and my father is part French, and so I got a bit of that as well.

Lars

When my children were very small I almost always had at least one pair of red shoes or rain boots for both of them. (I had a great fondness for Elefanten shoes and they made the cutest red and multicolored shoes.) The Greek husband of a good friend was horrified that I put red shoes on my son. I was never quite sure if it was a cultural bias that boys/men should not wear red shoes or if he was personally opposed.

After the age of 5 I had little influence on their choice of footwear. Sigh

I confess to dressing both children in a lot of white in the summer. My babysitter's house was spotless as was the first preschool they attended. So white was possible and I didn't know any different. When they attended a program one summer with a very dirty sandbox (more dirt than sand) and I used another babysitter in an emergency I realized how spoiled I was. I barely recognized my little grime monsters at the end of the day!

Eileen