It is a universally acknowledged truth that a young woman soon to graduate must be in want of a white dress. Maybe âmustâ isnât the right word hereâafter all, no one is actually forcing graduates to wear a white dressâbut you canât deny the compulsory nature of the custom.
Mysterious motivations aside, because the majority of the first U.S. colleges and universities to enroll women in the 19th century were seminaries (religion-based institutions) it can be assumed that a white dress has been the female graduateâs uniform from the beginning. But women werenât always as enthusiastic about it.
In the United States, women were originally prohibited from wearing the traditional graduation regalia we are familiar with today. Thus, all women could wear in celebration of their graduation day for a long time was a humble, white, cotton dress. However, in 1898, the graduating women of Wellesley College petitioned for the right to wear the graduation regalia atop their dresses, writing:
âThe Oxford caps and gowns we gaily bought
And then, a chance to wear, we vainly sought.
Alack! The âpowers that wereâ did sternly frown
Upon a Wellesley Maid in Cap and Gown.
âOh, you will ape the men, the men,â they said,
 âIf cap you place upon your girlish head.
A cap and gown the Chapel neâer did see!
 Commencement robes of dainty white must be!
Establishment of precedents we fear
 If your request we grant, oh children dear.
But Tree Day you may march in sombre hue
 (The privilege we gladly give to you)
And at the supper of your class so gay,
 If all the rules you carefully obey.â
On Tree Day, then, our gowns first saw the light,
 And crocked [sic] with black each dress of snowy white.
Again on Supper night those robes we wore
 In private dining room behind closed door.
The times have changed since Eighteen Eighty Nine
 When caps and gowns were not allowed in line
Today, if in procession you would be
 Collegiate garb is a necessity.â
Unsurprisingly, their petition was denied.
Even after women were allowed to wear graduation gowns, which began sometime in the early 19th century, some universities and colleges still required women to wear white dresses as part of their graduation attire. Spelman College, a university that has required women to wear white dresses on graduation day since 1900, describes the tradition as an attempt to achieve âa uniformed appearance among those present and [denote] the significance of the occasion or event.â
The average woman canât explain what compels them to wear white on graduation day, at least, those whose universities do not already mandate it. There are many events in which white is the color of choice: in weddings, the bride is meant to evoke virtuousness and purity; communions use white to embody innocence and a new beginning; and sometimes even funerals require white attire to symbolize peace and the celebration of life. All this is to say that, despite being defined by emptiness, white is often anything but. People rely on their clothing to express who they are or what they feel, but white is in most cases a humbling agent, reducing its wearer to their humanness.
Without the distractions of bright colors or patterns, the wearer is as they are and this vulnerability gives them the power to demand attention and speak for themselves. Women have historically worn white for this very reason in many contexts. Some even theorize that the origin of the white graduation dress lies somewhere in the suffragette movement. Suffragettes in both the U.S. and Great Britain often coordinated in white cotton dresses during protests, inadvertently coining the term âsuffragette white,â to convince the public that women were worthy and capable of electing proper candidates. Compared to the vagina-shaped hat from the 2017 Womenâs March, white cotton dresses might not seem all that disruptive, but alas, it worked. To this day, female politicians wear white as a form of subtle yet impactful protest in their efforts to protect and uphold the rights that suffragettes worked so hard to obtain.
Whatever the reason, it is satisfying to know that a tradition that persists to this day could have so many roots in resistance and collectivism. So, whether you choose to wear white to graduation or not, the important thing to remember is that you are part of something much bigger than yourself.
Happy Graduation!
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