It’s common for girls in America to be told that, for certain formal events, you must wear a white dress. White was seen as a color reflecting purity and innocence. 

Queen Victoria wore a white dress to her wedding in 1840. Others were inspired by her choice, and the trend of wearing white dresses really started to pick up as people became wealthier and more willing to splurge on fancy white wedding dresses. More and more actresses and public figures followed suit, and before you knew it, it had become this unspoken rule for brides to wear white to a wedding. 

I, too, have had my fair share of situations (not weddings) where I have been told that I cannot wear the blue or green dress, and I have to wear a white dress. It was not only my parents who told me, either; it was peers, friends and teachers- the endless examples in the media were enough for even a very young me to get the idea. 

I distinctly remember before my eighth-grade graduation when everyone was asking what dresses each other was wearing. When I told people I wasn’t wearing a white dress because, firstly I thought the color was boring, and secondly in all honesty, middle school me wanted to be ‘different,’ the reaction I got from my peers was confusing. They told me that I wasn’t allowed to wear a different color dress, that I had to wear a white dress. When I asked “why,” they didn’t have an actual reason: their answer was essentially that you ‘just had to wear white,’ no other way around it. 

I’ve asked a lot of people if they understood why it is expected that women wear white dresses, and no one has ever had a full, confident answer. It is interesting that such a progressive school like Masters would have an unwritten expectation that female-identifying students should wear white dresses at graduation. To me, there are some uncomfortable connotations with the fact that female-identifying students are pushed to wear a color that has historically been associated with virginity and wealth.

 We pride ourselves on our creativity and individuality among students, yet at one of the most important moments in our lives, we are told what color to wear. Why is that? Is there no answer besides the fact that ‘this is how it’s always been?’

 I can respect the idea of staying true to the past, but there is equally, if not more, motive in the idea of stepping into the future, and leaving dated “traditions” behind.