Dictated by regular fashion features in newspaper Votes For Women, readers were encouraged to conform to standards of early 20th-century femininity when it came to their personal presentation, believing a fashionable, restrained appearance would avoid the stereotypes of the “masculine” women depicted in cartoons of the time.
“Many suffragists spend more money on clothes than they can comfortably afford, rather than run the risk of being considered outré, and doing harm to the cause,” said Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline and sister of Christabel, in a belief that to further the cause it was important for Suffragettes to remain inconspicuous in dress. Initially white was chosen because it was inconspicuous. Here, we trace how a white outfit became a powerful symbol for women’s movements. Later in that century and into the 21st, women have turned to wearing white as a symbol of sisterhood and solidarity, reflecting the progress made by those who fought for women’s suffrage in the decades before them. White, though, was the colour chosen by the Women’s Social and Political Union – the leading force behind the Suffragette movement – for its vast rallies across the country at the beginning of the 20th century. And, more recently, France’s ‘gilets jaunes’ or ‘yellow vests’ who protested for economic justice up and down the country. Recent events have proved the political power of single-hue dressing – not least the well publicised Time’s Up movement, where actresses, directors and producers alike donned all-black outfits to drew attention to sexual assault, harassment and inequality in Hollywood. “I wore white today in honour of the women who came before me, and the women yet to come,” she wrote on her Instagram account. For the occasion – which will see her represent New York’s 14th congressional district – she chose to wear a white trouser suit, aligning herself with a long history of women who have chosen the colour as a symbol of political resistance, dating all the way back to Britain’s Suffragettes at the turn of the 20th century. Yesterday, New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was sworn into office, making her the youngest Congresswoman in US history.
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