White shoes an whit handbags??

My sister was married to an American for many years and lived there for most of the time. We got talking tonight about ..the first Sunday in May...in Scottish tradition every kid was dressed head to foot in new clothes/shoes etc but it reminded her of something in America where you didn't wear white shoes or carry a white handbag between November and April she thought...so...is this true and if so why?

I had forgotten this quirk until a few weeks ago. My wife was selecting a purse; I pointed out a white one & her reply was: "No, not until Easter."

For men, you don't wear a cord suit or a white coat after Labor Day until Spring.

That's what she told me but...she didn't know why...do you..or anyone else know why it came about?

I was always told no one knows exactly WHY we cant (which no one follows to be honest) ...but I did remember either reading or hearing that it had to do with 'fashion' somewhere between 1800-early 1900's.....

Back then people typically wore dark, disguising colors, yet white was a 'cooling' color and was only to be worn in hot months. Labor day marks the end of the warm season, so we can no longer wear white after that day....

what I heard years ago anyway.

Research indicates that it may have been to remind people not to wear light summer clothes during cold & slushy fall & winter months. That would fit with white pumps & Haspel Cord suits.

I guess the general rule that women match purse to shoes extended the rule to no white purses either.

My grandmother used to enforce this on me. Like to the death. I don't get it - honestly. I think it's just fashion snobs trying to say what looks best in what season - which I don't care about. My favorite shoes are white moccassins. I wear them year-round and nobody comments. It's mostly just the fashion-conscious people who stick to this.

They also say dont match your eye shadow with your shirt color, and I break that every day too lol.

anymore, people do what they want and set their own trend.

The no white after Labor Day is something we Oregonians definitely pay attention to (shoes anyway) because it starts raining in September and it's always a muddy mess until about... this time of the year. We don't listen to it because it's the fashionable thing to do, but for our own cleaning sanity lol

Thanks for your responses guys...appreciated. I don't think I've ever owned a pair of white shoes, apart from trainers. Do all of your states have such bad weather that it would be impossible to wear white shoes in winter? We do get rain here in Perth... occasionally hail stones but never so bad that I couldn't wear white dress shoes if I wanted to...Scotland...different story, of course. I just thought that states like Florida etc had it pretty mild year round?

I don't think even the rebel in me would succumb to wearing white shoes, although ..I did have a pair of white over the knee boots back in the days which I wore with a red mini skirt...thought I looked pretty cool until someone said I looked like a matchstick....never wore either again haha!!!

Hahaha... oh, Americans.

Hellon, what I wouldn't give for a photo of matchstick you.

It gets pretty muddy here, but I'm in the country. If I had to I could wear them, but they wouldnt keep clean for long.

Some people take this 'rule' seriously.. its funny.

So Larry, why is your wife so funny?