A southern question re: shoes

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

[KXEM]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

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

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I'm Northern and I would never wear white shoes after Labor Day. It has nothing to do with north vs. south...it's a basic fashion rule.

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

[SWTXBelle]

In some areas of the south, if you are wearing white shoes after Labor Day,you'd better be getting married!

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

In some areas of the south, if you are wearing white shoes after Labor Day,you'd better be getting married!

Yes...very much depends on the where and the who as to how strict this rule is.

[southbymidwest]

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

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I'm Northern and I would never wear white shoes after Labor Day. It has nothing to do with north vs. south...it's a basic fashion rule.

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

co-sign to both

[Drolefille]

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.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

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.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

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.

[33girl]

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.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by 33girl

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.

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

I'd still wear them though *shrugs*

[Lightning Bug!]

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.