White after Labor Day still has strings

Fashion police seem to get more lenient each year.

I once thought wearing white after Labor Day was some sort of sin. Turns out, it's not as taboo as it was even a decade ago. But like all fashion freedoms, wearing white still has some strings attached.

Carrying white garments into fall and winter months is acceptable as long as the fabric is appropriate.Once summer heat subsides, which in Southeast Texas could mean well into October - linens should be packed away, designer Shoshanna Gruss recently told the Associated Press.

"You wouldn't wear a strapless sundress if it were white linen or black linen in the fall,'' she told the news outlet. "Summer clothes are summer clothes, but, colorwise, it's more interesting and fun to play with your wardrobe and not leave any color out.''

Items Gruss and other designers encourage include:

• The little winter white dress. Shake up the status quo and standout amongst all the other little black dresses.


• Winter-white wool pants. Pair with a jewel-tone sweater or a chocolate-brown top, Gruss said, for a sharp look.


• White denim. I've never been a big fan of white denim. White jeans just don't look great on anyone. Suze Yalof Schwartz, executive fashion editor at large at Glamour magazine, disagrees. Yalof Schwartz told the Associated Press: ``nothing is more chic than white jeans in the wintertime with a chunky cozy sweater or a blazer and leather boots. Fortunately, she stresses avoiding too-tight white jeans, year-round.Keep in mind: If you wear white pants, skirts or shorts, you should wear flesh-tone underwear - not white, which shows.


• White shirts. A white turtleneck under a sweater or a white shirt under a cardigan can have a slimming effect in the way a black vertical stripe does on a bathing suit, according to the AP. Yalof Schwartz encourages women to wear a white sweater dress with dark, opaque tights.


• White no-no: One no-white rule still applies, no matter the season. Yalof Schwartz reminds women to never wear white to a wedding unless you are the bride.