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Bella Breakdown

For years we have been told never to wear white after Labor Day without a true explanation on why. Until now. The color white makes sense for summertime outfits, but according to researchers the rule of “No white after Labor Day” began because of the rich.

According to the Thrillist, Labor Day marks the end of summer in the United States. Due to this being the last summer holiday, it became an opportunity for those wealthy enough to vacation to mark their return to the heavier, darker, city-oriented fall clothing.

“There used to be a much clearer sense of re-entry,” Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, explained to Time. “You’re back in the city, back at school, back doing whatever you’re doing in the fall — and so you have a new wardrobe.”

As the century progressed and the middle class grew, these rules were a way to mark the difference, at least in custom, between old money and new. By the 1950s, women’s magazines made it clear to middle-class America: white clothing came out on Memorial Day and went away on Labor Day.