Yellowknife (Aug 20/03) - I'm the kind of person who buys 10 identical t-shirts and then wears them every day. I rarely dress up, but recently I needed to buy something to wear to a wedding.

My friend Jasmine Budak warned me that wearing black to a wedding is taboo -- or at least it used to be.

But I bought a black and white polka dotted outfit anyway. Then, as I walked back to work, I started wondering about other fashion taboos and whether they still exist.

So I asked two fashionable young women working at Barren Lands jewellery what they think about black outfits at weddings.

"I wore black to a wedding recently and there were other people wearing black," said Bonnie Humphreys.

Brides are no longer bound by white wedding dresses, they said. "The white wedding dress has totally changed," said Ruth Menzies. "People are starting to add colour now."

What about wearing white after Labour Day? No one pays attention to that rule here, they said.

I then asked them the most controversial Yellowknife fashion question.

Socks with sandals?

"I'd rather not comment on that because a lot of Yellowknifers do wear socks with sandals," said Menzies. "Whether I say yes or no, I'll be in trouble."

OK, would she personally pair socks with sandals?

Not unless she was very cold in a forest and the only shoes she had with her were sandals, she said. Humphreys agreed. It's a look you won't catch her wearing.

Then they opened a Victoria's Secret catalogue and showed me a style of shoes they hate. The look was popularized by Jennifer Lopez who managed to pull it off ... because she's Jennifer Lopez.

It's called the hiking pump and it's a cross between a construction boot and a stiletto heel. "Those are nasty," said Humphreys.

They also explained that Yellowknifers don't restrict themselves to many fashion rules. "That's how laid-back we are."