Put your preppy wardrobe to use

Your seersucker could land you a spot in the Senate

Posted by Lizzie on Apr 10, 2008 - 12:37 pm

In the years before air conditioning made summertime Washington bearable, senators from the South had much to teach their colleagues from other regions about proper attire. As spring merged into summer, southern senators shed their heavy-wool black frock coats for lighter linen and cotton garments. In 1907, a New Orleans clothier made summer wear more comfortable by designing a light-weight suit in pale blue and white striped rumpled cotton fabric.

Despite the invention of air conditioning this trend still goes on and in the late 1990s, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott selected a “nice and warm” day in the second or third week of June to be designated Seersucker Thursday.

Isn’t American government cute, not to mention fashionable?