Not Wearing White After Labor Day – Where the Phrase Comes From

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Tuesday begins the unspoken fashion trend most have probably heard of, not wearing white after Labor Day.

While it’s a well-known saying, many may not know where it comes from.

I’m not going to lie, as a kid, wearing a white shirt after Labor Day was a gutsy call.

I felt like I was breaking a rule.

While it’s an old wives tale, the question remains today: Do you ever wear white after Labor Day?

“Shoot naw! I did not wear it,” said Belk employee, Beverly Smith.

Where does the saying actually come from?

Workers at Belk like Smith don’t really know.

“It was just my upbringing, watching everybody else,” she said. “Parents, grandparents, everyone says it’s bad luck, even the movie Serial Mom.”

“I’ve always heard it in reference to women, not men,” said New Hope resident, Steve Ellis. “I had two sisters growing up, and so I heard them talk about it.”

Ellis is pretty close.

Turns out it was in the late 1800’s when more and more Americans were becoming millionaires.

Old money families didn’t like these new money families coming into their parties and events, so the women created a list of fashion rules to be able to pick the old money from the new, one of them being no wearing white after Labor Day.

“I think it’s a fashion faux pas,” Ellis continued. “You know, you were bucking a fashion trend or whatever if you wear white. It’s kind of like getting married, say, for the second time and you’re wearing white. You know, they say don’t do that either.”

What’s more is stores like Belk don’t see many purchases of white clothes after the September Holiday.

“I barely sell white anything in here, unless it’s like an undershirt or something like that,” Smith said. “That’s about it. Everything is colorful, leopard print, animal print, or goldish brownish in the Fall.”

Until next spring, when white comes back into style, some will keep to the old saying, and others will continue to wear whatever they want.

“My wife fusses at me about what I wear anyway,” Ellis said. “I’ll wear this (a white shirt) on December 25th. She says ‘you can’t wear that. It’s winter time.’ But it doesn’t matter to me.”

So there’s your answer, separating the the different economic classes, yet the trend has spread to every economic class since the rule’s creation.

As to what to where after Labor Day, wear white at your own risk.