White Before Easter?

Things That Make You Got Hmmm: Series

That lady must have thought I was either crazy or incredibly rude last week when I said something in passing at the Kaiser Permanente Clinic.

“You certainly are brave wearing white before Easter”, I told this woman who was wearing perfectly pressed white pants and a black and white summer top.

She laughed with a question on her face.

“You look very nice.”

“Thank you,” she said over her shoulder as she hurried away.

I was immediately embarrassed. Another foot in the mouth moment.

The Bay Area has been experiencing a heat wave in the past two weeks. It appears our winter has been cut short and spring has decided to skip this year. It has me debating if I should move the coats, rain gear, and boots to the back closet. The temperatures in some outer cities hit the 100-degree mark. Here in Oakland, we are having high 80s, one day it hit 90 degrees.

Thursday morning, I had an acupuncture appointment which requires I wear loose clothing that is easy to manipulate, and so my usual attire is sweats. I put on a flowered cotton shirt and was in a quandary about what pants to wear. It was too hot to wear sweatpants. I looked in my exercise bag, and I had some light-weight white sweatpants. Perfect….Not. My mind went to what Vivian Jones would say. Gasp!

“Now Dera, you know you don’t wear white before Easter or after Labor Day.” I could hear my southern born and raised mother say. Sigh. Easter is two weeks away. My search for some loose pants was back on. I scrummaged around and ended pulling on some black leggings-like pants, rushing to make my appointment on time.

After I had parked and was on my way into the medical building when I saw the lady in the white pants and said what I said. After I had chastised myself, I couldn’t help remembering I had previously written about this archaic (or is it?) WHITE rule several years ago. I went through my files to my old blogs and I found it.

============================================================================

White After Labor Day! Oh My

9/5/09

I was at church last Sunday in the social hall wearing my white linen dress, and one of the ladies said to me. “I see you have on your white, trying to get it out of your system before Labor Day. I laughed because she like me, has heard this practically our entire lives. Particularly, do not wear white shoes before Easter and after Labor Day. In fact, when I got up and looked in my closet to see what I was wearing that morning, my eyes landed on the white dress. I said to myself, I better hurry up and wear this because there is only one more Sunday to wear white. In fact, I started mentally calculating the other summer white clothing items I have; three pairs of white pants, dressy and casual, a white summer jacket, a white skirt and of course, white shoes and sandals. I planned my wardrobe for the next few days based on the “Do not wear white after Labor Day” mandate. I know what people are saying. Who follows those antiquated dictates anymore? Where did that come from? I live in California, we don’t follow those archaic rules.

Where did I get it from? My mother. It was not so much said but practiced. Every Easter my sister and I got white Mary Jane shoes, and we wore them throughout the summer, and they were retired at the end of the season. In researching the topic, it appears that this mandate originated on the east coast where there are definite seasons. White clothing reflects light and makes you feel cooler so therefore you would not wear it in the winter. It was also intimated that class issues came into play and the middle class in late 19th century set themselves apart by observing this practice.

Now, evidently, the color, Winter White does not apply to this dictum. Winter White or off white is worn all year round, including the winter. I have a Winter White skirt, dress pants, and coat jacket. I wear those all through the fall and winter. It is stark white that the rule applies. Of course, white tennis shoes do not count. And of course, white blouses and shirts are worn all year, every day. Evidently, the only people “allowed” to wear all-white consistently are nurses or medical professionals, and of course, church sisters on First Sunday. LOL

Of course, with times being the way they are, people make their own rules and poo poo the idea of anyone suggesting what they can or cannot wear. Here in California, folks make their own attire-wearing rules. Shorts and sandals and sleeveless summer dresses if the sun comes out in January. Some people get downright insulted if someone teasingly chides them for wearing white shoes after Labor Day, and dare suggest they are not fashionably in tune. Relax people, it’s just a saying. Why do I follow this mandate? Mainly, because I always have and as a creature of habit, I’m not going to change this late in the game. I am getting it out my system. Friday, I wore white pants to work, today I am wearing white capris, for church tomorrow I am wearing what I call my Scarlett O’Hara skirt, white of course with white shoes, and Labor Day, my white shorts…….. and then these items will be washed or dry cleaned and then retired until next spring.

Happy Labor Day!

Photo of my daughter (far right) and friends at a White Party in 2009