FactSentinel

The popular image of Pilgrims in all-black outfits with buckled hats and shoes is a later invention rather than a record of how the Plymouth colonists dressed. Buckles were not a common fashion item in the early 1620s. Shoe buckles became popular in the second half of the 17th century, decades after the Mayflower voyage, and the colonists would have fastened shoes with ties or laces and hats without buckles. The buckle motif was popularized by 19th-century illustrations, greeting cards, and Thanksgiving imagery, which drew on a romanticized idea of Puritan severity.

Surviving evidence points to a more colorful wardrobe. Probate inventories and wills from Plymouth Colony list garments described as red, green, blue, violet, tawny, and gray, along with the more familiar black. Black dye was expensive and was generally reserved for formal or Sunday clothing, so everyday work clothes were usually made of undyed or modestly dyed wool and linen in earthy tones. Portraits of the period, such as the one of Edward Winslow, show formal black dress, which likely shaped the later stereotype.

The misconception also stems from conflating Pilgrims with the wider Puritan movement and its reputation for plainness. Religious modesty did shape their dress, and colonial laws discouraged extravagant clothing, but modest did not mean uniformly black. Historians generally regard the standard costume as a myth.