When can I wear white pants again?

White jeans before memorial day.

I think that it is officially time to pack the heavy sweaters away until October. And at the moment, I’m not sad about it. However, it isn’t quite summer yet. And now the heavy sweaters are all packed up. So we get stuck in this weirdo time period of what to put on TODAY.  Like it’s a Tuesday and it’s 60 degrees outside.  It’s not 80 degrees yet, so I’m not ready for dresses and sandals, and it’s no longer 30 degrees so I don’t need to be all bundled and stuff. So what do I wear? How about I dare say white jeans before Memorial Day. 

Yes, I know what you are thinking. “BUT, I can’t wear my white jeans because it’s not Memorial Day yet”.  Wrong, and a total myth. When this weirdo weather hits all we want to do is feel refreshed and pull out our new pieces, but it just isn’t totally time yet. So, one way to reinvent the old before mixing in the new is to pull out your white jeans. Ya know those things that have been collecting cobwebs since Labor Day. (Oh, and these same rules apply for Labor Day, too.)

As long as there’s no snow on the ground or oodles of rain puddles, you can wear your white jeans, and wear them proudly. But there are rules to doing this so you don’t look too summery, or too wintry. There’s a real fine line to this transitional weather stage and making your white jeans work.

The 3 rules for wearing white jeans before Memorial Day:

  1. Wear earth tone colors on top in a lightweight wool or lightweight cashmere blends.

    Yes, neon and citrus colors are in for this spring and summer, (if you want to wear them now, wear them with your blue jeans but save them with your whites for summer). Heavy wool and cashmere is too heavy and doesn’t give the white bottom the transitional look you’re going for.

  2. Opt for a neutral color bootie or closed toe shoe.

    An open toe sandal screams summer, and an UGG boot is just too wintry.

  3. Try layering them up.

    A striped long sleeve T-shirt and a neutral color or camel color topper and pair of booties totally can work to transition your white bottoms. You can even wear a white blouse as I did in the top photo, just make sure there’s some texture, stripe or graphic on the top to help calm down the white.

Our Favorite White Jeans

Our Favorite Earthtone Toppers

Our Favorite Neutral Booties

And when the weather FINALLY warms up you can pair your white jeans with a floss heel and a tie-neck blouse to be summertime chic.

This Monday is Labor Day in the United States – a holiday linked to workers’ rights and wearing white.

That may sound strange, but it is true. Many Americans put away their white clothes on Labor Day and do not wear them again until the following May, after Memorial Day.

One reason for the clothing custom relates to the season. In the United States, the months between June and September are summer. The weather is usually hot, including in Northeast cities like Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York. Many people there historically wore light-colored clothing in the summertime to keep cool.

Judith Martin is an expert on manners – in other words, on how to behave politely. She spoke to Time Magazine about the history of wearing white in the summer. She said Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s wore formal clothes all year long. Wearing white clothes in the summertime may have felt more comfortable because “white is of a lighter weight,” Martin said.

Then, in about the 1930s, wearing white clothes in the summertime became fashionable, too. That is because some wealthy Americans in Northeast cities went on vacation for weeks or months in the summer. They stayed in costly hotels or summerhouses. The white clothes they wore there became linked to ease, beauty and money. But at the end of summer, around Labor Day, they put those white clothes away and returned to their lives in the city – as well as to their darker, heavier clothes.

In time, not wearing white after Labor Day became a bit of a fashion rule. Following it showed that you were wealthy -- or at least that you knew how to act like you were.

Today’s fashion magazines, however, advise readers to ignore the rule. They point to Coco Chanel, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama, who have appeared in white in all seasons.

But you may want to be careful about wearing white to an American-style Labor Day barbecue. The trouble is not fashion – it is ketchup. If it spills, the popular red tomato sauce can ruin a nice set of clothes.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English with reports from Reuters and Time. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

comfortable - adj. not having any physically unpleasant feelings : experiencing physical comfort

fashion - n. a popular way of dressing during a particular time or among a particular group of people

What month can you start wearing white pants?

White jeans are a chic base for an outfit all year-round. Dressing for the climate is always a must, but you can certainly wear your white pants into the fall and beyond.

Is it too soon to wear white pants?

As long as there's no snow on the ground or oodles of rain puddles, you can wear your white jeans, and wear them proudly. But there are rules to doing this so you don't look too summery, or too wintry. There's a real fine line to this transitional weather stage and making your white jeans work.

Can you wear white pants 2022?

Wondering if you can still rock your favorite pair of white jeans after Labor Day? It's 2022, so the answer to “Can you wear white after Labor Day?” is yes! You can absolutely wear white after Labor Day if you want.

When after Labor Day Can you wear white?

Consider one of the the oldest myths in fashion, busted. Wearing white after Labor Day is viewed by some as a fashion faux pas, but experts we spoke to say otherwise. So, free up some space in your closet for even more on-trend white pieces that you'll want to rock long after the three-day weekend.