Graduation season is almost here. This event commemorates one of the biggest achievements in someone’s life: the transition from student to professional, from child to adult. Graduations come with a very specific dress code: a cap and gown. However, underneath this uniform, there is room for creativity.
Choosing your graduation dress is a way to assert your individuality in a sea of conformity. It might, then, feel limiting that many people adhere to the tradition that your graduation dress needs to be white. Sticking to traditions can be a way to honor the past, but the past doesn’t need to hold you back. White is definitely not the only option.
Why do Graduation Dresses Have to be White Historically?
As women gained more access to education in the early 1900s, white became the default color for graduation. There are several reasons for that. Part of it has to do with timing and part of it has to do with color symbolism.
White has long been associated with ideas of youth, freshness, hope, and purity. In the early 20th century, it was a fashionable color that showed status, due to the challenge of keeping it fresh and clean. White dresses were also adopted by the suffragettes as part of their uniform during the movement that fought for women’s rights to vote and receive an education.
With this in mind, it makes sense that white became the default color for graduation. It recognizes the women who came before us and fought for us to have access to more choices in our lives. It also represents new beginnings. That right to choose has also given us more options, including the option to break with tradition.
Other Options for Graduation Dresses
While many people still choose white for tradition and for practicality, since white looks great on everyone and matches everything, sometimes choosing another color is a better option. Many designers have been releasing youthful and modern collections of colorful graduation dresses.
Sherri Hill has one of our favorite graduation collections with fun designs that will go from pre-ceremony pictures to post-ceremony dinner.
Choosing a Grad Dress Color
If you decide to break with tradition and wear a more colorful graduation dress, you can base it on a few things. You can simply choose your favorite color that flatters your skin tone best. Some people have already developed a signature color that they want to stick to at important events.
You can also choose a color that reflects your personal education journey.
You might choose to represent your school colors in your outfit or colors associated with a club or honor society you were part of. These colors are often loaded with their own symbolism that reflects the values of these organizations.
Choosing one of these colors for your graduation dress shows that you identify with these values and are committed to upholding them beyond graduation.
When to Choose White
In most cases, you’re free to choose from a whole rainbow of colors when you pick your graduation dress, but there may be circumstances in which you choose white.
Since most graduations take place in spring or early summer, white is a great color for hot weather. It’s light and fresh and looks good on almost anyone. It will match your school colors and any honor cords you get to wear at graduation.
If you’re a part of an organization like a sorority, you might also be asked to wear white. Some organizations maintain these traditions, and doing so allows you to show that you’re part of that history.
Do Graduation Dresses Have to be White? Not Necessarily!
Many people may choose to wear white graduation dresses for a number of reasons. White dresses honor the past and represent the hope of new beginnings. They may also be used to signal your connection to an organization, and white is almost universally flattering.
To honor the past, though, you can also choose to look toward the future. In this future, you can choose self-expression rather than tradition. There is a world of color you can choose to represent yourself and your values. The only question now is which one will you pick?
