The red cloaks have taken on a larger meaning.
The red cloaks worn by Handmaids on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale have developed a meaning beyond the show.
The costumes have become a symbol and a reminder of women's rights, with many wearing the ensemble as a sign of protest against recent abortion legislation in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and more. While speaking with ET at The Handmaid's Tale's season three press day in New York City on Tuesday, star Elisabeth Moss said she was "honored" and "inspired" by women using the costume to make a point.
"It's incredible and it's such an honor, honestly. To see that there's this one costume, this one look that if you take one look at, you know what that person is fighting for, you know whose side they're on, and you know what they believe in," Moss shared. "To have a visual representation like that, there are very few things that that can do and that’s what I get to put on every day. That is pretty cool."
"Like, I get to wear that at work and I feel very kind of honored to do that. Those women inspire me, so the fact that they're out there, they're actually -- I'm an actor. I'm doing a TV show. These women are actually on the front lines and they’re actually doing the work. So, I get inspired by them wearing the costume," she added.
Celebrities spoke out last month when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a law that would ban abortion as soon as doctors can detect a heartbeat, as early as six weeks, before some women are aware they're pregnant. Physicians would be required to determine if there is a heartbeat before performing an abortion. Weeks later, similar bills were signed in Missouri, Louisiana and more.
"I'm so grateful to them," Moss' co-star, Ann Dowd, told ET of the women using the Handmaid's costume in protest. "To think that it could step outside of a source of entertainment, if you will, onto the street -- it's so gratifying and what a privilege to be part of this. And when I see it, honestly I wish I could just bow down in gratitude to it. It's beautiful. And the strength to get out there and stand up in the face of it, it's fantastic."
"It's very flattering first of all, it just is. But it is also so important that it's taking on this relevancy and now that it's become this kind of symbol of resistance and a symbol of that women are not going to Gilead," Madeline Brewer added. "We are not turning into The Handmaid's Tale, we are not going back, we are not rolling back the rights of women into the '50s. We're not doing this."
"I do think that something that the show tries to put out into the public is that women and everyone of any marginalized community in the United States has to pay attention," Brewer continued. "Pay attention to what's happening to your rights. Pay attention to the words that you use, because now apparently words are now becoming a very, very important thing in law."
The first three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale season three will be available Wednesday, June 5 on Hulu.
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