Thanks, 33! I was wondering if this was still another of my mother vs. northern society problems I have.

And trust me, there are many!

I do think it is more widely observed nowadays in the south - someone should make a poll! :cool:

If anything, it should be observed MORE in the North, as I think part of the reason is that you don't want your white shoes to get gross in the snow/slush.

That's nothin' compared to Alabama red mud.

And for some of us with big feet, there rarely is a good time to wear white shoes, regardless of the longitude and latitude.

co-sign to both

All I have to say is this is one more silly fashion rule that I can hardly bother to remember much less follow.

They're just silly.

If you don't want to follow it, then don't. But I honestly don't understand how looking at a calendar is that complicated.

Most "rules" are just common sense. Common sense tells you that white shoes with a sweater and pants in January is going to look effing stupid.

And along that note: dear elderly lady who was bitching about it being cold in the store today. Maybe you wouldn't be cold if you weren't wearing OPEN TOED SHOES IN OCTOBER.

Maybe my northern is coming out, but white shoes PERIOD, or a specific type of white shoe?

Honestly, I wear what I want when I want. I don't care what the "rules" are.

Using an arbitrary date on the calendar to tell you when a piece of clothing is no longer socially acceptable isn't really common sense.

Nor do I see why white shoes would be stupid in January. How is that common sense? Why would they look stupid because it is January? Seriously, I have zero comprehension of why the color changes from fine to oh god no not that.

k_s - white dress shoes. White sneakers are all right.

Winter clothes are mainly in darker colors. It looks stupid in any season when your clothes are darker than your shoes.

While this may be true, none of it falls into "common sense."

And I don't really even think it's true that winter clothes come in darker colors or half my winter sweaters are a lie.

/not that they're necessarily fashionable, but wtf do I know.

OK, I figured y'all were talking about dress shoes.

I'd still wear them though *shrugs*

Does the no white after labor day thing apply to guys as well? I never quite understood that; I have a pair of off-white khakis that I like because they go well with basically everything I wear, but I'm not sure what the rule on that is.

Also I recently heard a rule from some of my brothers that you shouldn't wear seersucker after labor day or before Easter; I kind of see the point to this (seersucker being light material generally unsuited for the usually cold weather of that time period) but I've never heard that one before. Anyone more familiar with the real South know the background on that?

i used to laugh at the "no white after labor day" rule until i moved to the midwest for school and found that when it snows it makes EVERYTHING disgusting, now it makes sense and i follow it simply to keep things from being ruined. i think it must have started in the regions where it snows then just progressed to the rest of the country.

i dont always follow the rules about my shoes not being lighter than my clothes, but i also don't wear true white..i hadnt heard that rule until just now