> There's security in knowing the rules if you want to play the game.

You've got a point there, but I think I'd still rather have no rules than purposeless rules (concerning social interaction, that is, not necessarily all things). At the same time, I don't want to imply I'm altogether happy with my own generation's laxness, either. I admit to wholly disapproving of students showing up for class (high school, college, whatever) in torn jeans or pants hung so low as to expose underwear. This is more than a stupid fashion fad; it's disrespectful to the occasion and others participating in it. Wear that stuff after hours, running around the neighborhood with peers, and it's still stupid but nothing I disapprove of. The point being that there is something to be said for observing formal occasions formally, conducting business professionally, and so forth, and dress, having so much impact on the first impressions you create, not just of yourself but the family or company or neighborhood or organization or whatever that you represent.

At one of the places Darleen and I honeymooned, we went to an upscale hotel/resort* at which men were expected to where ties and dress coats after 5pm, were they to appear at dinner or make use of any of the many public lounges, lobbies, or facilities (exceptions made for the pool, of course). Prior to 5pm, there was more lax but still very definite standard. These were rules I could and did respect.

But "no white after Labor Day" doesn't seem to have anything to do with asking participants of an occasion to show a level of respect for it by dressing to a level of formality. It's not tied to an occasion or situation, and it's not tied to a level of formality.