Fashion traditions have taught us for decades that every outfit has a time and a place, especially in the South. You cannot wear linens during the evening, open-toed shoes during winter nor velvet during summer. Though many of these silent expectations have died out in recent years, there is one rule that is still widely acknowledged and followed: It is unacceptable to wear white after Labor Day.
So, why on God’s green Earth did one of the most Southern institutions in the country request fans to dress in white for a football game in October?
The precedent was that the whiteout game was always the first game of the year — typically, the only home game prior to Labor Day. This was not simply a coincidence but an acceptance of the idea that wearing white after Labor Day is sacrilegious and should be avoided at all costs.
As someone who has spent her entire life in the South, I was appalled when Ole Miss revealed this season’s color-of-the-game schedule that deviated from that norm and called for a whiteout game well into the fall.
Of course, it is not a matter of life-or-death. Avoiding the color white after the end of summer is merely a fun Southern custom that many believe stems from the practicality of wearing the color in certain temperatures.
At the end of the 18th and into the 19th centuries, wearing lighter fabrics and colors allowed for a greater ability to stay cool on hot summer days when air conditioning was not yet publicly available. Oppositely, critics argue that this unofficial fashion rule was created by wealthy women who wore white during their summer vacations to communicate their socioeconomic status and create a visual class divide.
Regardless of its origin, I think the idea of not wearing white after the start of fall is just a silly, innocent tradition in Southern culture, synonymous with sweet tea, haint blue porch ceilings and the New Year’s Day lucky meal (which I did actually eat every year growing up, though I cannot say that eating those black-eyed peas brought me financial prosperity — something that can be hard to come by with these Oxford prices!).
At the end of the day, supporting the team and showing Rebel pride is the most important part of going to an Ole Miss Football game. Thus, despite my aversion to doing so, I will accept this cultural defeat and wear an outfit with a hint of white, as requested by our beloved university.
Perhaps, in the future, Ole Miss Football could consult a stylist before releasing the color schedule to prevent such a blunder from happening again.
MacKenzie McDaries is a junior sociology and Arabic major from Murfreesboro, Tenn.
