Whether people notice it or not fashion plays a big role in our everyday life. From the way we dress to go on our daily life to how clothing makes one feel. Garments can be an extension of oneself. But as human nature is; we like to set rules and guidelines of what should or should not be done with clothing.
Faux Paus: fō-ˈpä [noun]
a significant or embarrassing error or mistake
Merrimack Webster
In different cultures and parts of the world there is probably fashion faux pas that exist. Some people just followed them and never questioned them. So I think it is now time to find out about the origins of these things and see how and why the came to be.
You can’t wear white after Labor Day
I think that this is a rule, that if you live in America have heard in any form of content from movies to tv shows to books. According to The Farmers Almanac, this ruled stemmed from a form of practicality but also elitism. This rule came about the 1900’s and the practicality of it is; that during warm weather people preferred wearing light colors and linen fabric to keep cool until the unofficial end of summer Labor Day.
The elitism about this rule is that mostly wealthier people would partake in this trends as the rich wearing clean white clothes was a sort of privilege/status symbol since a majority of people lived in dirty cities that had come with the Industrial Revolution. By the 1950’s, this was a rule that was followed by the wealthy and to this day is still spoken of, not so much followed.
In our current era this is something that is not followed by the mainstream. There might be a small number of people who maybe still follow this rule; but overall this is only something that is brought up in things like movies or tv shows. And while it may not be a autumnal color, I think it is a great color to wear because you stand out more against the colors of the changing foliage. And if you don’t want a pure white, you can always go for one for the various shades of white like eggs shell or so on. Moreover, I believe it could be an all year color because you can definitely dress it up or down depending on the weather, occasion and vibe you are feeling. A true all rounder.
But really how can you think of winter and not imagine wearing a white piece or even a whole white outfit? (Whether you wear it or someone else does, you know it will look good.)
Wearing Black with Navy
According to Complex, this stems from suit regulations and the idea that you wore these colors together in a “poor attempt to match.” While I do see this being a thing because I have worn things that are black and thought they were navy blue. (I prefer navy blue. lol) I think unless you are trying to dress in a traditional suit atttire, than you can listen to these “rules” but if you ar not then I don’t think you need to.
I think this is another one that is confusing. I personally think that wearing navy with black is a great combination. It is something that I wear very often. I think that the black makes the navy more navy and the black more black.
Here are some of my favorite:
As you can see from the images above designers have been styling outfits down the runway with this silly little rule not in mind. And from the outfits you see that navy is more navy and the black is more black. I especially loved how Fendi styled there navy and black outfit because they paired a knit navy blue sweater with a pair of leather trouser. i think the contrast of the fabrics really emphasizes not only the material but the colors. Making it known that you weren’t trying to wear a navy and black piece to try and make it match, but that it was an intentional outfit. I also think that these colors make you and your outfit look more put together and thought through than they may have since these colors are associated with more formal things like special events or maybe going to work.
[short story time: when I worked t shoe store I remember helping out a man but he didn’t want navy shoes because he had been told that they can’t be worn with black. (TRUE STORY!!). I still suggested them and he bought nothing because he was being an annoying customer lol. He tried on like 5 shoes…)
Mixing Metals
This is another faux pas that has been told to many. To not mix metals and wear one type of metal if they are going to wear accessories. When doing research on this myth I could not come up with may results other than post saying you should and how (lol.) However, after doing more digging I found the reason. According to Silver Chic, “…there are two potential issues that you should be mindful of when wearing the two metals together and that is the transfer of tarnishing and also scratching. While gold and silver cannot cause tarnishing on one another, they can transfer it. Very much like how a contagious illness jumps from one person to the other, the transferring of tarnish can occur when a tarnished piece of jewellery makes contact with a non-tarnished bit of jewellery. Scratching, on the other hand, occurs when the metals bump and clang together.”
In short, not mixing metals was more of a thing to try and keep your jewelry pieces looking better, rather than fashion faux pas. I say mix metals and if you are afraid of tarnish transferring and scratching maybe disperse the metals like gold earrings and silver necklace or something where the metals don’t make contact. Or if they do make contact there is ways to clean them and try and keep them looking nice and polished, so they can avoid any tarnish.
Now knowing the origins of some of the most infamous fashion faux pas it gives more insight on how some of these rules have been used and evolved over the years. I do not think people should be unwilling to wear certain things because of things they have seen online or because of things they heard growing up. I think everyone should try everything to see what they like.
What are some of the fashionista faux pas that you will try and go against? Have you tried wearing one of these? Or do you also just follow the rules because they were set ages ago? Let me know in the comments.
J’s Journal 