‘The Testaments’ Outfit Shades, Explained
Welcome to Gilead, a mennonite dystopia where Aunt Lydia’s School for Future Wives resides. A school where girls’ clothing defines their status at the infamous institution in The Testaments, Hulu’s sequel series to The Handmaid’s Tale. Growing up in Gilead is all these girls have ever known, not remembering anything from their lives before or from the outside world.
These girls are locked within this “school” as a means to make them become perfectly groomed women whose only intention is to become future brides, and if they are extraordinarily perfect, mothers. The show draws attention to the mean rivalries, forbidden love, and sexual curiosities that are normal for womanhood but are being suppressed within the walls of the school.
The students within the school can wear either pink, plum, or pearl, and although this classifies their age, experience, and class, they all must abide by the same rules set within the school.
The Pinks
The “pinks” represent innocence and childhood. These are the youngest girls and daughters within the institution and are too young to marry. Their age range is usually around 10 to 12 years old, allowing them to be seen as girls before their transitional puberty.
The Plums
The “plums” represent adolescents who are roughly ages 10 to 15. This color emphasizes that these girls are ready for or training to become wives of the commanders. The plums are seen as elite girls and are maturing from their previous pink color.
The plums are groomed to be obedient, educated, and compliant with the needs for which they are asked to complete. They are the next generation and will be chosen to inherit the ideologies that live within the institution. The plums are paired with the “Pearl Girls,” who are missionaries from outside of Gilead.
The Pearls
The “pearl” girls are young women who are missionaries recruited by Aunt Lydia to help teach and prepare the plum girls. Their white outfits represent their purity and rebirth. The pearls not only teach, but they also lure girls from the outside world into the community by presenting their experiences as a safe utopian paradise.
The pearls are always monitored and report on one another. They are spies for each other, internally forcing them to keep each other in check. They are a part of a three-stage system: higher calling, supplicant, and pearl girl. They are all watched by Aunt Lydia, continuously building new generations of loyal missionaries.
The Spring Greens
The “spring greens” are elite girls who have reached puberty and are eligible for marriage. It is the transition from the adolescent plums to the fertile woman who can get married to the commanders. Their color also shows that they have had their first menstrual cycle.
The Blues
The “blues” represent the elite girls who are now serving their commanders as their wives. The color symbolizes the Virgin Mary to illustrate their role of purity and motherhood. These girls raise the children who were born to the handmaids.
The wives are quite wealthy, but they live silently and obediently, having little to no power outside of their households.
The Browns
The “browns” represent the aunts within the school. They are the only ones who wear brown within the institution to show their power over the girls.
The Dull Greens
The “dull greens” represent the marthas; they are the domestic servants within Gilead. They are deemed the caretakers and are often older and infertile women.
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