I love fairy tales because of their haunting beauty and magical strangeness. They are set in worlds where anything can happen. Frogs can be kings, a thicket of brambles can hide a castle where a royal court has lain asleep for a hundred years, a boy can outwit a giant, and a girl can break a curse with nothing but her courage and steadfastness.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest congresswoman in history, was sworn in on Thursday and wore all white in a nod to the many suffragists who came before her.
Women in politics have worn white at key moments to signify solidarity with the long-ago activists who won women the vote.
In 1908, the honorary treasurer of the militant suffragist group Women’s Social and Political Union, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, selected three colors to unify participants during a demonstration in London’s Hyde Park: white for purity, purple for dignity and green for hope, according to History.com.
Since then, barrier-breaking female leaders have dressed in white as a hat tip to the movement, including Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro and Shirley Chisholm.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Thursday night that her outfit choice was to “honor the women who paved the path” before her and “for all the women yet to come.”
In the 1500’s-1800’s Perukes as known as wigs were worn by men and not the reason you think. Yes it was a fashion statement and a status symbol. But around 1520 a nasty Syphilis outbreak occurred. Syphilis is a sexually contracted bacterial infection. So turns out the 16th century man really didn’t want people to know their syphilis left them bald, so they put a wig on it and hoped for the best.
Perukes were long to cover open sores and powdered to mask unsavory smells. Oh, what a glorious time to be alive!! They later became a fashion statement, making it all the way up to British and French royalties. Lack of hygiene and regular bathing was also a reason why the wore them. Syphilis wasn’t cured until the early 20th century, but the French Revolution and a British tax on wig powder killed the Peruke by 1800.