The Most Significant Colors to Wear on International Women's Day

With the Time's Up and Me Too movements and the continuing fights for equal pay and healthcare rights for women, International Women’s Day this year will, without a doubt, hold more significance than ever. There are lots of ways to support the cause, e.g., donating time or money to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, or Time's Up; and calling your congressperson or senator.

Another easy way to bring awareness to women's rights is to dress accordingly. There's no denying the fact that Hollywood's decision to show solidarity for Time's Up by wearing black to the 2018 Golden Globe Awards ceremony made a very strong statement, as did the white roses many attendees wore to the Grammy Awards that year. Similarly, the colors you choose to wear—on International Women’s Day especially—undoubtedly will carry an unspoken meaning that’s louder than words.

Read on to learn more about why black and five other colors will have the most impact on March 8, and shop some of our favorite options in each hue.

Red can’t be ignored. It forces people to stop and pay attention. It symbolizes strength and power.

According to the National Woman’s Party, "Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause.” It’s also the color of dignity and self-respect and signifies bipartisanship. It was also one of the three colors adopted by the suffragettes.

The symbolism of wearing all white also hearkens back to the suffragette movement, when women were strongly encouraged to wear it. According to a quote in The Guardian by Valerie Steele, the director of the Museum at FIT, "White has connotations in the west of purity and virtue, this idea of being the good guy.” She added, "Certainly the suffragettes were aware of that when they wore white—they were good people too, why shouldn’t they have the right to vote?”

Another signature color of the suffragette movement was green. Green stands for hope, which is why Pantone chose it to be 2017’s Color of the Year.

According to societal norms, pink is unapologetically feminine, and it represents compassion and love. 

This post was originally published at an earlier date and has been updated.

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