Elizabeth Chen
Colors are a vital part of human interaction with our environment, and can be seen everywhere in our daily lives. By helping us perceive our surroundings and communicate ideas that cannot be conveyed with words, colors can provoke emotion and incite vibrancy like no other. Drawing on this idea, the use of colors can be especially symbolic in the realm of activism and fashion.
In the early 21st century, the term color revolution came about in reference to the anti-regime uprisings in post-Soviet Union Eurasia. The origins of the color revolution are most commonly associated with political movements like Serbia’s ‘Bulldozer Revolution’ in 2000, Georgia’s ‘Rose Revolution’ in 2003, Ukraine’s ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan’s ‘Tulip Revolution’ in 2005. Today, activists have found power in associating color with social and cultural movements.
‘Suffragette white’ has long been an important color to the suffrage movement. But what is its significance? In 1908, Women’s Sunday, a suffrage march held by the Women’s Social and Political Union, encouraged over 300,000 protesters to wear white in unity with the women’s cause of gaining the Constitutional right to vote in the United States. From then on, wearing and using the color white played a crucial role in spreading the union’s message. Recently, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and many women in Congress, wore all white to the 2019 State of the Union Address to highlight advocacy for women’s rights and to pay homage to the 100 year anniversary of the 19th amendment that officially gave women the right to vote. Women today continue to wear the color white not only as a political tool to ensure that women’s voices are heard, but also to stand in unity with the suffragists.
As a form of wordplay on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alert codes, Code Pink: Women for Peace, is a feminist anti-war group that protests U.S. militarism. The objective of Code Pink is to direct U.S. resources into welfare programs, such as healthcare and education, rather than funding the military, and, in Women for Peace’s opinion, war. Code Pink representatives voice their opinions through theatrical protests, all the while wearing their signature color pink.
Green, the color of vitality and life, has been adopted by leaders of abortion-rights movements to represent their causes. All throughout the Americas, the green bandana is ubiquitous among protesters supporting the abortion rights movement. In Latin America, activists of the Green Wave, or Green Tide, movement successfully achieved the 2020 legalization of abortion in Argentina, the decriminalization of abortion in Columbia in 2022, and, for cases of sexual assault, an exemption to the abortion ban in Ecuador.
The #MeToo, a movement against sexual assault and violence, empowered survivors to break their silence about their experiences, helping to create a supportive community while bringing awareness to the prevalent issue of sexual assault. As a result, the Purple Campaign aims to bring greater awareness to and establish laws on sexual violence in the workplace. Members of The Purple Campaign can be seen wearing a wave of purple while advocating for lasting change in American workplaces.
Throughout the history of fashion, colors have been used to represent various movements. It is important to recognize the impact that the simple act of wearing a particular color can have on supporting a cause. While wearing colors in everyday wear is most often an aspect of self expression through fashion, they can also be used as tools of activism and advocacy.
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