The Daily Valet. - 9/7/21, Tuesday

✔️ Get Crazy and Break Some Rules

Tuesday, September 7th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Let’s hear it for Tuesdays that feel like Mondays, but promise a short week.

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

White After Labor Day

How’d this become a thing? And we don’t have to pay attention to it anymore, right?

I hope you had a good holiday weekend, celebrating the unofficial end of summer. Now, if you’re one to ascribe to old fashioned rules, you might be ready to pack up your white pants and jackets. I've never been one for rules. Rules are made to be broken. (Adages, on the other hand, you can trust.)

But where’d this “no white after Labor Day” rule come from? Charlie Scheips, author of American Fashion, told Time that wearing white in the summer was a practical way to stay cool. But that “all the magazines and tastemakers were centered in big cities, usually in northern climates that had seasons.” And facing, say, heavy fall rain, they might not have been inclined to risk sullying white ensembles with mud—and that sensibility set the tone for the country.

Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, believes there may have been classism at play in reinforcing the rule in the 1950s helping to separate old money elites from the nouveau riche. “It was insiders trying to keep other people out and outsiders trying to climb in by proving they know the rules,” she said.

But as Vogue plainly puts it: such old-school fashion don’ts are themselves outdated and irrelevant. Just ask today’s tastemakers. InsideHook did just that and the results were unanimous: the rule is simply bogus.

“I love the way a ‘winter white’ look pairs with a charcoal cashmere sweater or Harris tweed,” says WM Brown founder Matt Hranek. “I love white corduroy as well and long for the first crisp day to roll them out.”

Designer Todd Snyder agrees the old rule is antiquated but offers a nice side-step. “If you’re stuck in the old days, you can play with off-white bottoms—they have no start or end date. Whatever you choose, please make sure you update the shoes … a boot can really offset a light (or white) jean.”

↦ FYI: While the first picnic and parade took place in New York in 1882, Labor Day didn’t become an official a federal holiday until 1894.

Jobless Americans Left Scrambling

Millions lose federal unemployment benefits as aid expires

Millions of jobless Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Monday, leaving only a handful of economic support programs for those still struggling as the Delta variant rattles the pandemic recovery.

The end of the aid came without objection from President Biden and his top economic advisers, who have become caught in a political fight over the benefits and are now banking on other federal help and an autumn pickup in hiring to keep vulnerable families from foreclosure and food lines.

And while there are a record 10 million job openings in America, employment is not expected to soar. According to CNN, the benefits are not the only reason for the relatively slow pace of hiring. Child care and health concerns are also major factors. The U.S. added only 235,000 jobs in August—far lower than economists had been expecting and the smallest increase since January.

The amount of money injected by the federal government into jobless benefits since the pandemic began is nothing short of astronomical. The roughly $650 billion, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, kept millions of Americans who lost their jobs in their apartments and able to stay current with their bills. The banking industry has largely attributed the low default level on personal loans over the last 18 months to the government relief efforts.

↦ FYI: It's estimated that roughly 8.9 million Americans have just lost all or some of these benefits.

Partner

As we transition seasons, it's time to switch things up. Grab yourself a pair of old school sneakers to wear throughout autumn.

Tuna Bounce Back

Several species see optimistic rise in numbers as other marine life decline

Tuna are starting to recover after being fished to the edge of extinction, scientists have just revealed. It's promising news, for sure.

But it's not all good news. The BBC reports that numbers are bouncing back following a decade of conservation efforts, according to the official tally of threatened species. But some tuna stocks remain in severe decline, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which updated the extinction Red List this weekend.

The revised IUCN Red List also includes a detailed reassessment of the global population of shark and ray species, revealing that nearly 40% are now threatened with extinction. The group says this statistic shows that effective management measures are “lacking” throughout much of the world's oceans.

But the report is a “powerful sign” that despite increasing pressure on our oceans, species can recover, if states commit to sustainable practices, said IUCN Director General, Dr Bruno Oberle.

↦ Dig Deeper: Smithsonian magazine delves into how the pandemic helped create a window for fishing grounds to recover from years of overfishing.

Airfare Is Set to Drop This Fall

Now is the time to buy, apparently

If you weren't ready to travel, or simply missed the bargain basement pricing of pandemic airfares ... you will get another opportunity to score deals on flights this fall, reports Insider.

As the summer comes to a close and leisure travelers hibernate for the fall, airlines are facing a shortage of business travelers that would normally help fill the gap until the holiday travel season.

When you couple this with sagging consumer confidence, you've got the recipe for really affordable plane tickets. Airfares are expected to be lower than fall 2019 levels as airlines entice leisure flyers to get back in the air during their off-season.

September may be the cheapest season of the fall, according to the travel data company Hopper. Airfares are estimated to drop 10% into September with the average round-trip flight costing $260 for domestic travel. And if you're looking to head overseas, Hopper estimates September to November airfares will be more than 15% lower than 2019 levels and the average round-trip will be $734.

↦ FYI: Despite recent price jumps, the actual cost of a domestic plane ticket has held steady for nearly 25 years—though passengers have paid in other ways.

In Other News

↦ Michael K. Williams, Star of ‘The Wire’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ Found Dead at 54

↦ Justice Department Will ‘Protect’ Abortion Seekers in Texas

↦ Why You Might Not Be Returning to the Office Until Next Year

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Flamin’ Hot Mountain Dew

Tony Leung

Dreams

Partner

New Season, New Shoes

Time to refresh your sneakers with something classic

We're long removed from our days as students, but there's something about this time of year that gets us thinking about new shoes. It's the promise of a fresh start as we transition from summer into fall. Of course, we don't have to go so heavy yet, so a pair of canvas lace-ups toes the line perfectly. SeaVees is a brand that specializes in classic kicks. That's because their sneakers are still made the way they were back when the California brand was founded.

The “Sixty Six” sneaker is a stitch for stitch re-creation of the original style shown in the SeaVees ad campaigns from the late '60s. They come in a range of colors, but our current favorite is a super soft, french terry knit upper. The heather grey fabric feels a lot like your favorite pair of sweatpants (complete with a smooth cotton lining). And just like your favorite sweats, you'll find yourself pulling them on over and over, in all sorts of situations.

↦ Get It: Sixty Six sneaker, $58 by SeaVees

StuffWeWant

There's so much you can do with this little guy. Officially, it's a spice cellar ($22)—made for storing go-to seasonings on the kitchen counter or for adding an extra dash of finishing salt at the dinner table. But the rough-hewn beauty is crafted from textural terracotta (cured over an open fire to create a unique finish in deep, dark shades). So set it on your entry table stocked with gum or use it to hold paperclips on your desk. The small circular opening on the lid also allows it to double as an incense holder.

↦ Want More? The five stylish items to buy this week