Handmaid dress code

The Handmaid dress code is the most visible and oppressive symbol of Gilead's system of reproductive servitude. The uniform—a full-length red dress, white wings covering the face, flat red shoes, and red gloves—transforms each Handmaid into a walking emblem of the regime's ideology: a two-legged womb, a sacred vessel, a national resource. The code dictates every aspect of appearance, from the color and cut of the garment to the prohibition of cosmetics, hand lotion, and even mirrors, ensuring that the Handmaid is seen not as an individual but as a function.

Components and Prescribed Appearance

The prescribed issue includes a red dress that is ankle-length and full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts, with full sleeves. Over this, the Handmaid wears a white headdress with stiff white wings that frame the face, designed to keep the wearer from seeing fully and also from being seen. Flat-heeled red shoes are required, "to save the spine and not for dancing." Red gloves are also part of the uniform. Everything except the wings around the face is red, "the color of blood, which defines us." The dress is made of pure cotton, which is better than synthetics for the cheaper ones, though even so, in the muggy July and August weather, the Handmaid sweats inside them. The white wings are also prescribed issue; they are to keep the Handmaid from seeing, but also from being seen. The uniform is so distinctive that from a distance, Handmaids look "good from a picturesque, like Dutch milkmaids on a wallpaper frieze, like a shelf full of period-costume ceramic salt and pepper shakers, like a flotilla of swans or anything that repeats itself with at least minimum grace and without variation."

Symbolic and Ideological Meaning

The red color is not merely aesthetic but ideological. The Commander, who may have been Frederick R. Waterford, is credited with the design of the female costumes and for the suggestion that the Handmaids wear red, which he seems to have borrowed from the uniforms of German prisoners of war in Canadian POW camps of the Second World War era. The dress code enforces the Handmaid's role as a reproductive vessel: the outside of the body can become hard and wrinkled, "for all they care, like the shell of a nut," because only the insides of the body are important. The prohibition on hand lotion and face cream is a decree of the Wives, who do not want the Handmaids to look attractive. The uniform also serves as a marker of status and function, distinguishing Handmaids from other classes of women: the Wives in blue, the Marthas in dull green, the Econowives in striped dresses, and the widows in black.

Prohibitions and Enforcement

The dress code is enforced through a system of prohibitions. Handmaids are not allowed to wear makeup or use hand lotion or face cream, as such things are considered vanities. The prohibition on cosmetics is so strict that when Offred is given a cigarette by Serena Joy, she must hide the match and smoke in secret. The uniform itself is a form of control: the white wings limit peripheral vision, making it hard to look up or get a full view of the sky or anything else. The Handmaid learns to see the world in gasps, a quick move of the head, up and down, to the side and back. The dress code also dictates that Handmaids must wear their hair long but covered, as Saint Paul said it is either that or a close shave. The uniform is so complete that even the red shoes are part of the prescribed issue, and the Handmaid's body is marked with a small tattoo on the ankle, four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse that guarantees she will never be able to fade into another landscape.

Subversion and Resistance

Despite the strictness of the dress code, Handmaids find small ways to resist. Offred learns to use butter as a substitute for hand lotion, rubbing it into her skin to keep it soft, a trick she learned at the Rachel and Leah Re-education Center. She notes that as long as she does this, she can believe that she will some day get out, that she will be touched again in love or desire. The butter is greasy and will go rancid, but at least it is organic. The dress code also creates a form of solidarity among Handmaids, who share the same uniform and the same experience of being reduced to their reproductive function. When Offred sees a pregnant Handmaid in the store, she feels a shift in the room, a murmur, an escape of breath, and despite themselves they turn their heads to see better, their fingers itching to touch her. The pregnant Handmaid is a magic presence, an object of envy and desire, a flag on a hilltop showing what can still be done.

Narrative and Thematic Significance

The dress code is central to the novel's exploration of identity, power, and resistance. The uniform strips the Handmaid of her individuality, reducing her to a function and a color. Offred's name itself is a patronymic, composed of the possessive preposition and the first name of the Commander, a name that changes with each posting. The dress code is a constant reminder of the Handmaid's lack of agency, but it also becomes a site of small acts of defiance. The uniform is so iconic that it becomes a symbol of the regime itself, a visual shorthand for the oppression of women in Gilead. The dress code also highlights the regime's hypocrisy: while Handmaids are forbidden from using cosmetics or hand lotion, the Wives can wear perfume and the Commanders can indulge in black-market luxuries. The dress code is a tool of control, but it also creates a shared experience that binds Handmaids together in their resistance.