Summer's End

And so the summer is over before it even began, it seems. Well, maybe some of you drank umbrella-topped cocktails by the shore, but my pasty ass hardly saw the sun, so I'm not even sad about the passing of the season. I have resigned myself to the sad realization that the summers of my adulthood will never be the sunbathed weeks of frolicking that filled my adolescence. Alas, some of us have to work for a living (why "us" must include myself I have not yet been able to work out).

This week the subways are packed with tanned skin stuffed back into dull suits, all fighting for the same car, having lost all their vacation relaxation in the hustle of rush hour. And since we're all returning to full-time work focus, it's time to remind everyone about appropriate fall attire, specifically that it's time to put away your whites.

Now I know some of you are nodding along and some of you are rolling your eyes wondering why your generally progressive Queenie insists on maintaining these antiquated fashion notions. First of all, let me remind y'all that I am from the South, where wearing white after Labor Day ranks among the highest of fashion offenses, thus the rule is strictly adhered to at all costs. I will grant you that September is often a very warm month, especially for those living in a New York Retirement Community (aka Florida), and while I do think lighter fabrics are still acceptable I still think it's time to put away your white pants.

Later in the fall season we will introduce those shades known as "winter white," which will be acceptable, but not so early in the season. The issue I find it that it's a very fine line between fashion forward and just wrong and because I tend to teeter on that line so very often, I find that in certain instances it's best to just stay away from it altogether.

I'm not saying you've got to break out your black wool sweaters or anything, but the stark white pant and white dress shoe (which you shouldn't really own in the first place), well they need to be packed on up. Sadly, in many cases, such as the one in my closet, we never lost those last couple of pounds needed to wear those white pants decently, so they will have to be packed away unused, in hopes that next summer will bring the miraculous loss of this year's and last year's winter weight. (Of course these pants will never actually be worn again, but it is the American Dream that keeps us holding on to clothes 3 years too long before we give into their Goodwill destiny).

So let us all carve out a little time this weekend to begin switching over our closets- Nothing drastic, just the bright whites, and maybe the backless tops. And do yourself a favor in the name of limited closet space, if you didn't wear it even once this season or it's a little tight around the waist, just get rid of it, lest you find yourself repacking it unworn in Sept 09!!