Okay, we all mark Labor Day as an end-of-summer holiday. But do we know WHY we have a holiday labeled “Labor Day?”

In 1894, Congress voted to have a national holiday to honor the nation’s workers and their contributions to the well-being of the country. The impetus for this decision was to celebrate the achievements of American workers and, specifically, the establishing of an 8-hour workday and abolishment of child labor, among other achievements.

Tidbits from Vogue magazine dated 1925: Where did the idea that you can’t wear white after Labor Day originate? In a quote from the magazine we read: “It’s a fashion rule that has been parroted by grandmothers, magazines and teenage girls for generations, as if it’s a statue that society has always abided by.” 

This crazy idea traces back to the elite of the Gilded Age. Every summer the rich would move from the crowded, sweltering cities to the cooler places by the ocean, such as Newport of Southampton, and remain for the entire season. Packed away in their travel trunks were their summer wardrobes of white. White clothing was cooler in summer, reflecting sunlight. But another factor for the elite to wear white was a subtle way of showing you were not doing any manual labor which would dirty your white clothes. 

And one certainly could not wear white back in the city where the streets were dirt or mud and were covered in horse poop and rotting garbage.