17 Fashion Rules People Used to Follow
Fashion hasn’t always been about personal expression and comfort. Decades ago, getting dressed meant navigating a minefield of strict social expectations and bizarre style commandments. Breaking these unwritten rules could damage reputations or even hurt career prospects in some circles.
Here is a list of 17 outdated fashion rules that once dictated how people dressed.
No White After Labor Day
Possibly the most famous fashion rule ever – wearing white after Labor Day was once considered the ultimate style sin. This bizarre seasonal restriction originated with wealthy vacationers returning from summer homes to city life.
White clothing collected dirt more visibly in sooty urban environments, so practicality eventually morphed into snobbish tradition.
Blue and Green Should Never Be Seen
“Blue and green should never be seen without a color in between” – this rhyming rule terrorized fashion-conscious folks for generations. The supposed clash between these neighboring colors on the color wheel somehow became fashion gospel.
Tell that to peacocks or the entire Pacific Northwest aesthetic!
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
Match Your Shoes to Your Purse
Ladies once spent hours hunting for handbags and shoes in identical shades. This matchy-matchy approach wasn’t just suggested – it was practically mandatory for proper ladies.
Accessories had to coordinate perfectly, creating a weird, uniform look that now reads as uptight and fussy.
Men’s Belts Must Match Their Shoes
Guys didn’t escape matching madness either. The color of a man’s belt absolutely had to match his shoes – brown with brown, black with black.
Breaking this rule supposedly marked someone as unstylish or careless. Heaven forbid a navy belt enter the equation – total fashion emergency!
Never Mix Prints
Combining different patterns was once fashion blasphemy. Florals with stripes? Polka dots with plaid? Absolutely forbidden!
People genuinely believed mixed prints looked chaotic and cheap rather than creative. This rule imprisoned countless wardrobes in boring solids for decades.
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
No Denim on Denim
The “Canadian tuxedo” was once considered the ultimate fashion faux pas. Wearing denim jeans with a denim jacket earned immediate style demerits.
This rule seemed especially silly considering how practical and complementary the combination actually is. Thankfully, this rule died a well-deserved death.
Ladies Must Wear Stockings
Bare legs were once scandalous in professional and formal settings, regardless of temperature. Women endured pantyhose in sweltering summer heat because “proper ladies” never showed naked legs in public.
The invention of pantyhose in the 1960s merely updated this rule rather than eliminating it.
No Athletic Shoes Outside the Gym
Sneakers were strictly forbidden beyond sporting activities. Wearing running shoes with regular clothes marked someone as unfashionable or lazy.
The idea of designer sneakers or athletic shoes as fashion statements would have horrified previous generations who kept their trainers strictly segregated from “real shoes.”
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
Dress for Your Body Type
Fashion magazines endlessly categorized women’s bodies into fruits (apple, pear), geometric shapes (rectangle, triangle), or even flatware (spoon). Each category came with strict rules about what styles “flattered” and what styles were forbidden.
This tyranny limited self-expression and reinforced body insecurities.
Proper Ladies Wear Slips
Slips – those annoying underlayers – were mandatory beneath dresses and skirts. Showing the outline of your legs through fabric was considered practically pornographic.
Women carried safety pins to secure gapping wrap dresses and spent extra money on these uncomfortable, unnecessary garments.
Hemlines Must Match Your Age
Older women were forbidden from showing their legs regardless of how great those legs looked. “Mutton dressed as lamb” was the cruel description for women over 40 daring to wear shorter skirts.
This bizarre age-based dress code forced many women to abandon styles they loved simply because of birthdays.
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
No Visible Bra Straps
Visible bra straps were once considered completely scandalous – evidence of slovenly dressing or loose morals. Women performed contortionist tricks with safety pins and special clips to hide these offensive strips of elastic.
The actual comfort or practicality of undergarments took distant second place to maintaining this illusion.
Men Cannot Wear Pink
Pink was strictly forbidden in masculine wardrobes until relatively recently. Men wearing this “feminine” shade faced ridicule or questioning of their masculinity.
This arbitrary color assignment ignored history – pink was actually considered a boy’s color in early 1900s America before marketing executives flipped the script.
Redheads Cannot Wear Red
People with red hair were told to avoid wearing red clothing because it would clash terribly with their hair color. This silly rule prevented many redheads from enjoying a color that often complements their complexion beautifully.
The supposed clash was more imaginary than real.
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
Horizontal Stripes Make You Look Fat
The persistent myth that horizontal stripes add visual weight controlled many wardrobes. Curvy people especially were warned against these “widening” patterns regardless of whether they actually liked stripes.
This rule had more to do with body shame than any real optical illusion.
Proper Ladies Don’t Show Roots
Visible roots were once considered the ultimate grooming failure. Women scheduled standing appointments exactly 4-6 weeks apart to prevent even a millimeter of natural color showing.
This expensive and time-consuming rule created immense pressure while ignoring the reality that hair actually grows.
Evening Wear Requires Gloves
Formal evening events once demanded elbow-length gloves for women, regardless of practicality or personal preference. These accessories complicated everything from eating to handshaking but remained mandatory for “proper” ladies.
The protocol surrounding when to wear them, remove them, and how to store them created yet another etiquette minefield.
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
Fashion Liberation
Today’s approach to personal style emphasizes self-expression over arbitrary rules. While some guidelines about proportion or color theory remain helpful suggestions, the rigid commandments that once controlled wardrobes have largely disappeared.
Modern fashion acknowledges that creativity and comfort matter more than outdated notions of “correctness.” Personal style now belongs to the individual rather than social gatekeepers.
More from Go2Tutors!
- 18 Unexpectedly Valuable Collectibles You Might Have Lying Around
- 20 Little-Known Historical Battles That Had Huge Consequences
- 20 Historical Artifacts That Scientists Can’t Explain
- 15 Inventions That Were Immediately Banned After Being Created
- 20 Actors Who Were Almost Cast in Iconic Roles
Like Go2Tutors’s content? Follow us on MSN.
