Off white =/= white. I don't usually see white men's pants, so I don't think you really have to worry about that. What guys SHOULD worry about is the wearing navy and black together....DON'T DO IT! Summer, Winter, Spring or Fall - black + navy = wrong.

You're right about seersucker - lighter material for hotter weather.

k_s ITY?

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2544/tarlekyp6.jpg

He and his ilk are the only guys I've ever seen wearing white dress shoes. :)

North vs. South
 

One difference I've noticed is that in the north the rule is no white shoes before Memorial Day, while I was taught that in the south it is no white shoes before Easter.

I love breaking out the white shoes at Easter! :) (Hey, simple pleasures are the best.)

I think I can solve this puzzle for y'all. I study ritual behavior for a living, and I'm a native southerner.

Humans have marked the changing of the seasons with ritual behavior for millennia. Often the practices are arbitrary in nature, sometimes functional. In the southern US as well as many of the former British colonies, light colors are associated with warm weather because there is a general presumption that white reflects light rather than absorbing it, same with heat (this is scientifically debatable, but it's the functional belief behind the custom). Although I doubt there ever seemed to be widespread concern about one's feet overheating in dark shoes in the summer, the whole "light colors in the summer" was adopted in part because of semi-correct, semi-erroneous belief - and shoes just fell into that package. Now in these days of air conditioning, people still wear lightweight fabrics (and cover themselves up with sweaters b/c of the artificially-created chill indoors!) and light shoes as a way of marking late spring, summer, and early fall. The "rule" about the shoes is just a marker of identity - the way some people separate themselves out from others by noting a lack of observance in what has become a largely aesthetic tradition. So part of the "she wore white!" chatter is because of a desire to create a pleasing summer aesthetic, and part to create a social divide between "us" (i.e., "nice" people in the know) and "them" (tacky people not in the know).

Now this applies to shoes, seersucker, and linen. With clothes, its the fabric that is more important than the color - a winter white wool suit is perfectly "acceptable" for a woman. Generally it "should" be worn with non-summery shoes.

I've even heard that women are "allowed" to go without hose in the summer, although just to show you how deep the "us" vs. "them" thing goes, my mama would have replied "LADIES always wear hose, no matter the season."

Anyway, that's what is going on from a sociological perspective.

Seersucker is definitely a spring/ early summer material. You could wear it after labor day or before Easter, but it just looks silly. It would be like a woman wearing a sun dress in the winter. I still wear open toed shoes in the winter if I'm wearing fancy heels, but NOT if I'm walking through snow or ice. Shoe fashion for high heels doesn't change in the winter. Open-toed shoes are still acceptable.

Lol -- I'm wearing this to my 10 year HS reunion.

I was always taught Easter as well.

The dowager I mentioned was walking through Sears in a sweater and pair of casual pants. :) I don't think she gets a pass. She's also a little further north than you are. For me, I love my black satin dress sandals, but if I wore them past September around here my toes would freeze off.

The date isn't exactly arbitrary. It's just a shorthand way of saying no white shoes when summer is over. Because white dress shoes have a spring-summer/warm weather look to them.

As for James and Preston, guys do have to pay attention to this stuff too. The no-white shoes means no white bucks. And by extension, it means no clothing like seersucker. As noted by AF, though, white =/= off white, nor does it = dirty bucks.

That's how I've always heard it.

Ha, it's harder to be farther south than me now unless your name is AzTheta or AZ-AlphaXi! I agree she gets no pass.

If I'm going to an event where strappy sandals are appropriate, I'll often wear my knee high (dressy) boots in the car then change into my sandals before going in.

Also, I'd rather be shot dead than wear pantyhose. If I wear any type of hosiery, it's tights. Otherwise, I'll suffer to go bare.

To be quite honest, I don't know how I feel about patterned shoes, I really really hate plain white shoes, so I'll never get caught in the Easter v. Memorial Day debate. If I have an outfit that would go nicely with white, I've found that it'll probably go nicely with silver, and that doesn't fall under the same rules.

I completely agree! Wow, we are on the same page today.

I get that, but people treat the date itself as if white shoes worn on the day after, no matter how hot or sunny will make them utter social pariahs.

There's nothing particularly 'common sense' about it though. Odds are that the only reason there aren't more white winter shoes/boots now is more because of the rule than because of the winter weather damage. Designers don't always take practicality into 'fashion' in the first place.

/exaggeration for the sake of the point may have occurred in this post.

Yes, you're right. It is rather arbitrary, but is seriously engrained in the South.

Down here it's like saying "yes ma'am" and men opening doors for women. You just do it. Never been a big deal or a problem for me.

ETA: Except when it comes to hose. I can't handle them. Can. Not. Which is considered un-ladylike by some, but it isn't worth it to me.

One of my more precious memories of an event I attended is that of a DAR page, with her long formal gown, and ribbons & pins out the wazoo, in a hallway where she thought nobody would see her, hiking up her knee high stockings.

The problem lies with the manufacturers of hose. One size never did and never will fit all, and if they fit the leg length, rarely fit the rest, etc. I switched to thigh highs long ago, and have yet to regret it.