[Ads-l] Adage: There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I received a request to explore the saying in the subject line. It is
listed in "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" compiled by Charles Clay
Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro with an initial citation
dated 1979.

I found two families of related expressions and decided to produce two
articles for the Quote Investigator website:

There Is No Bad Weather, Only Inappropriate Clothing
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/03/30/weather-clothes/

No Such Thing As Bad Weather, But Only Different Kinds of Pleasant Weather
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/03/29/bad-weather/

These sayings are difficult to trace because they can be expressed in
many ways. The earliest match I saw for the clothes maxim appeared in
a story by Elisabeth Woodbridge published in "The Outlook" magazine of
New York in 1911. The author signaled that the saying was already in
circulation, thus the ascription was anonymous.

[ref] 1911 April 29, The Outlook, In The Rain by Elisabeth Woodbridge,
Start Page 974, Quote Page 975, The Outlook Company, New York, New
York. (Google Books Full View) [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=QuVOHMDnXF0C&q=%22thing+as+bad%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
"Don’t you think it's rather poor weather for walking?"
"This was what I had been waiting for, and I responded glibly, “Some
one has said there is no such thing as bad weather, there is only good
clothes."
[End excerpt]

Here is an overview with dates for the clothes maxim:

Precursor 1830: There is no such thing in nature as bad weather (John Wilson)

Precursor 1883: There was no such thing as bad weather, but only
different kinds of pleasant weather (John Ruskin)

1911: There is no such thing as bad weather, there is only good
clothes (Anonymous attribution by Elisabeth Woodbridge)

1915: There is no such thing as bad weather if one is dressed properly
(Charlotte V. Gulick of Camp Fire Girls)

1935: There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad dressing for the
weather. (Anonymous attribution by Helen Johnson Keyes)

1941: There is no bad weather, only bad clothes (Anonymous attribution in Vogue)

1960: There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes
(Anonymous attribution by Duchess of Windsor)

1962: There’s no bad weather, only unsuitable clothing (Margot Benary-Isbert)

1974: There is no bad weather for bikes, only bad clothing (Attributed
to Swedes)

1977: There is no such thing as bad weather—only inadequate clothing
(Comical attribution to Freud in Punch)

1978: There is no inclement weather, only inappropriate clothing
(Anonymous attribution in Wisconsin State Journal)

1985: There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing
(Anonymous in Cruising World)

2006: There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate
clothing (Attribution to Ranulph Fiennes)

2009: There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing
(Attribution to Alfred Wainwright)

Feedback welcome
Garson O’Toole

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