on this day every year i find myself scratching my head over what not to wear.
as a young lady i was told that it suddenly becomes improper to wear certain items of clothing after labor day. white shoes, for example... strictly verboten after the beginning of september. and though i'm certainly not any kind of fashion maven, this weird rule has stuck with me all these years.
luckily i don't own any white shoes (except for athletic shoes, which trump the rule) so i don't have to worry about breaking this particular commandment. but i think labor day also marks the final day you are allowed to wear several other items of clothing. am i right? like sandals, maybe? cropped pants?
of course, if you have "winter white", that's safe. you can wear that all year-round, i think. (except no "winter white" during summer, probably... but what do i know?) but no open-toed shoes after labor day, even if they're "winter white". right? or are open-toed shoes ok as long as they're pumps and not sandals??
gack! these rules seem ridiculous! i mean, it's labor day... in north carolina the weather is still pretty warm. labor day in wisconsin, however, is not. how is one rule supposed to be applied universally?
mary & i decided we'd make up our own rules... at least regarding sandals ('cause neither of us have white shoes to worry about). we now decree that we are allowed to wear our sandals until the high temperature for the day falls below 75 degrees, regardless of whether labor day has passed.
that seems fair. i think. i might need help with the other rules, though... especially cropped pants and capris. that's all i've been wearing this summer.
i wear capri/cropped pants any time of the year, weather-permitting. i wear them w/ sweaters and tennis-shoes or regular shoes (no socks, of course) in the fall or winter. i am probably breaking a rule, but i don't care.
Posted by: amy at September 7, 2004 9:56 AMI agree with Amy. The thought crossed my mind this morning when I reaching in the closet and pulled out my cropped pants that I may be breaking some rule. But I wore them anyway cause I'm a rebel.
Posted by: lainey at September 7, 2004 9:59 AMHere's my rule - I wear cropped pants and slides until my feet and ankles are cold. Then, I switch to snowshoes.
Posted by: pinky at September 7, 2004 11:15 AMI'm sorry, but I have never understood cropped pants and capris. I have never owned a pair. They just don't feel right to me.
What would Stacy and Clinton (or Trinny and Susannah) say?
What *I* say is, break all the rules!
Posted by: minty at September 7, 2004 12:39 PMclinton & stacy have never fully addressed this issue. they come close in this quiz (http://media.tlc.discovery.com/fansites/whatnottowear/quiz/quiz.html ), but don't fully resolve it to my satisfaction.
i actually think cropped pants look ridiculous on me, but there's no way i'll ever wear shorts during the summer. capris are a happy compromise.
Posted by: christa at September 7, 2004 12:45 PMi tend to go by the temperature of my office, which generally runs 10 degrees cooler than the outside temperature (at least). when it's 100 outside, that's kind of nice; when it's 75 outside, it kind of sucks. so i probably wear warm clothes to work earlier than the average person. for instance, today i am wearing courduroy pants, a long sleeved knit shirt, socks, and closed toe shoes, and a lot of my summer clothes are probably gonna be tossed out of the closet in the next week or two.
however, i think the whole idea of these "rules" is pretty bogus. wear what seems appropriate for the weather and style of dress for your region.
Posted by: lisa at September 7, 2004 1:23 PMWhatever you do, don't wear capri pants with knee socks! I saw a woman wearing that combo one day and it looked quite odd.
Back in my Birkenstock days I wore sandals on any day there wasn't snow on the ground (in Wisconsin that ruled out a lot of the year), and I committed what some people think is an egregious faux pas: sandals with socks! Everyone I knew wore 'em that way.
Posted by: Lisa B at September 7, 2004 3:24 PMi think birks trump all fashion rules except hippie fashion rules. i mean, if you're wearing birks, what do you care about wearing white after labor day? i'm guessing not much.
Posted by: lisa at September 7, 2004 3:42 PM