Is it okay to wear white pants after Labor Day?
—Tiffany, Birmingham, Alabama

Seems a celebration is long overdue; we have been liberated from this rusty manacle since at least 2004, when the Emily Post Institute declared it to be "a thing of the past." (Confidential from StyleSpy to the Post Institute: Someone could have called me.)

Now you may wear white on any appendage, at any time, to almost any affair. (Obviously funerals are out. Unless we're finally burying the skinny jeans trend. Then, please, get festive.)

Besides, there are places on this planet way too sun-baked to suffer the dictates of chillier climes. Phoenix this week is supposed to be about as crisp and refreshing as the surface of the sun. If you happen to reside there, I am not suggesting you take comfort in your white Juicy Couture palazzo pants; I am ordering you to.

If, for some reason, you really, really like living old-school and would not wear such things even if Earth were to suddenly burst into flames, a compromise: winter whites and creams. Get thee to Linda Loudermilk's Website and find a local boutique carrying her creamy fall collection.

But do you really want to do that when a perfectly good pair of Diane Von Furstenberg wide-leg pants is on sale at Barneys? I didn't think so.