Official and Traditional Colors of Hawaii
Hawaii state colors follow a unique eight-island system, officially codified in 2000. Includes HEX, RGB, CMYK, and Pantone codes plus the history and symbolism behind each color.
Official color palette of Hawaii
State color reference
- Official colors
- Eight Island Colors: Red, Pink, Gray, Orange, Green, Yellow, Purple, White
- Official since
- 2000 (Hawaii Revised Statutes, island color and lei material designations)
- Primary use
- Pāʻū parade costumes, island identity branding, lei-making tradition, state cultural events
- Known for
- The only state in the United States with a multi-island color system rather than a single set of state colors; each color is derived from the island's official flower or lei material, connecting the color palette directly to Hawaii's native botanical heritage and the tradition of the Pāʻū rider parade dating to 1906
Color Specifications
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Hawaiʻi Island Red (Big Island)
The fiery red of the ʻōhiʻa lehua blossom, the first flower to emerge on fresh lava flows; red honors Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess who is said to dwell in the active craters of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island, and represents the volcanic fire that continues to create new land in the Hawaiian archipelago
Maui Pink
The soft pink of the Lokelani, the Maui Rose — a Damask rose brought to Hawaii from Asia in the early 1800s and designated Maui's official flower in 1923; the only non-native species selected as an island flower, the Lokelani's pink is the color most associated with Maui's lush upcountry landscape around Kula and Haleakalā
Kahoʻolawe Gray
The silver-gray of the hinahina plant, a native Hawaiian everlasting flower whose silvery foliage blankets Kahoʻolawe; gray reflects both the plant's tone and the island's austere, uninhabited landscape — Kahoʻolawe was used as a US Navy bombing range from World War II until 1990 and remains under restoration, making gray a color of resilience and renewal
Lānaʻi Orange
The vivid orange of the kaunaʻoa, a native parasitic vine — the only member of its genus endemic to Hawaii — that grows in bright orange tangles along Lānaʻi's coastal beaches; the color reflects the island's warm, dry, sun-drenched landscape, and the kaunaʻoa's medicinal properties made it an important plant in traditional Hawaiian healing practices
Molokaʻi Green
The deep green of Molokaʻi's rolling rural landscape, adopted as the island color even though the kukui tree's blossoms are white; green honors Molokaʻi's identity as the most rural and traditional of the main Hawaiian islands, and the kukui tree — Hawaii's official state tree, designated in 1959 — has been central to Hawaiian culture for centuries as a source of oil for lamps, medicine, and polished nuts for royal lei
Oʻahu Yellow
The golden yellow of the ʻilima, a delicate five-petaled flower in the hibiscus family that was historically reserved for Hawaiian royalty and considered a symbol of love; creating a single ʻilima lei requires between 500 and 1,000 hand-gathered blossoms, making it among the most labor-intensive lei in Hawaii and a color that speaks to Oʻahu's status as the Gathering Place and the seat of Hawaiian royalty
Kauaʻi Purple
The regal purple of the mokihana tree's small blossoms, an endemic native citrus tree found only in the wet forests of Mount Waialeale on Kauaʻi — the second wettest place on Earth; the mokihana berry emits a strong anise-like fragrance when crushed and was used by ancient Hawaiians as perfume; purple honors Kauaʻi's reputation as the Garden Isle, the oldest and most geologically mature of the main Hawaiian islands
Niʻihau White
Uniquely, Niʻihau's color derives not from a flower but from the rare white shells (pupu o Niʻihau) found on the island's beaches; Niʻihau shell lei are among the most prized and expensive in Hawaii, selling for hundreds to thousands of dollars each; white reflects Niʻihau's status as the Forbidden Island — a privately owned island accessible only to Native Hawaiians and invited guests — and its role as the last stronghold of the Hawaiian language as a daily spoken tongue
WCAG Contrast Checker
Accessibility compliance for Hawaiʻi Island Red (Big Island) and Maui Pink
Maui Pink
on Hawaiʻi Island Red (Big Island) background
Hawaiʻi Island Red (Big Island)
on Maui Pink background
WCAG 2.1 Standards:
- AA Normal Text: 4.5:1 minimum
- AA Large Text: 3:1 minimum
- AAA Normal Text: 7:1 minimum
- AAA Large Text: 4.5:1 minimum
Developer Export
Copy-paste ready code snippets
CSS Variables
/* CSS Variables for Hawaii */
:root {
--hawaii-hawaiʻi-island-red-big-island: #C8102E;
--hawaii-maui-pink: #E8A0BF;
--hawaii-kahoʻolawe-gray: #A8A9AD;
--hawaii-lānaʻi-orange: #E07B39;
--hawaii-molokaʻi-green: #4B7A44;
--hawaii-oʻahu-yellow: #F2C75C;
--hawaii-kauaʻi-purple: #6B3FA0;
--hawaii-niʻihau-white: #FFFFFF;
}Tailwind CSS Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'hawaii': {
'hawaiʻi-island-red-big-island': '#C8102E',
'maui-pink': '#E8A0BF',
'kahoʻolawe-gray': '#A8A9AD',
'lānaʻi-orange': '#E07B39',
'molokaʻi-green': '#4B7A44',
'oʻahu-yellow': '#F2C75C',
'kauaʻi-purple': '#6B3FA0',
'niʻihau-white': '#FFFFFF',
}
}
}
}
}SCSS Variables
// SCSS Variables for Hawaii
$hawaii-hawaiʻi-island-red-big-island: #C8102E;
$hawaii-maui-pink: #E8A0BF;
$hawaii-kahoʻolawe-gray: #A8A9AD;
$hawaii-lānaʻi-orange: #E07B39;
$hawaii-molokaʻi-green: #4B7A44;
$hawaii-oʻahu-yellow: #F2C75C;
$hawaii-kauaʻi-purple: #6B3FA0;
$hawaii-niʻihau-white: #FFFFFF;
Individual ʻilima blossoms required to string a single lei for Oʻahu, the island whose official color is yellow — a fact that makes Oʻahu's golden yellow one of the most labor-intensive official colors of any US state or territory
Official Designation and History
Hawaii's eight-island color system was formally codified in Hawaii state law in 2000, when the state legislature officially designated a color and lei material for each of the eight main islands. This system has no parallel among any other US state: rather than designating a single set of state colors, Hawaii recognizes eight distinct island color identities that together form a collective palette representing the full diversity of the Hawaiian archipelago. The colors are tied directly to each island's official flower or lei material, embedding botany, geography, and Native Hawaiian cultural tradition into the official color system and complementing Hawaii's state flag design.
The cultural tradition underlying the island color system is considerably older than the 2000 legislative codification. The Pāʻū parade — in which women riders on horseback wear their island's color in elaborate floral costumes and drape their horses in the island's official flower — dates to at least 1906 in the modern organized form, and reflects a much older Native Hawaiian tradition of island-specific floral identity. The Kamehameha Day parade, held annually on June 11 to honor King Kamehameha I, the founder of the Hawaiian Kingdom, has featured Pāʻū riders in island colors for over a century, giving the color system a living cultural presence long before formal legislative designation and aligning with Hawaii's sovereignty-era motto.
The 2000 Legislative Codification
The Hawaii state legislature's 2000 action to officially designate island colors and lei materials gave formal legal standing to a color tradition that Hawaiians had practiced culturally for generations. The designations appear in the Hawaii Revised Statutes and assign to each island both a specific color — linked to the island's dominant botanical symbol — and an official lei material used to represent that island in cultural ceremonies, parades, and official state functions. The legislation formalized what the Pāʻū parade tradition had long expressed: that Hawaii's identity is not singular but a harmonious collective of distinct island personalities, each with its own color, flower, and cultural story, similar to the way Hawaii's state flower page documents native symbolism.
The Pāʻū Parade Tradition
The Pāʻū (skirt) rider tradition is the primary living expression of Hawaii's island color system. In Pāʻū parades, women riders wear long skirts (pāʻū) in their island's official color and adorn both themselves and their horses with the island's official lei material, creating a moving display of all eight island colors. The tradition is celebrated at major Hawaiian parades including the Kamehameha Day parade in Honolulu and Kona, the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, and the Aloha Festivals parades across the islands. The sight of eight riders in eight distinct colors — red, pink, gray, orange, green, yellow, purple, and white — is one of the most visually distinctive cultural expressions in the United States.
Key milestones
Pāʻū parade tradition in its modern organized form is established in Hawaii, with women riders wearing their island's color — the first formal public expression of the eight-island color system
Maui officially designates the Lokelani Rose as its island flower, the only non-native species and the only island flower designated before the 2000 statewide codification
Hawaii admitted to the Union on August 21 as the 50th state; the kukui tree (Molokaʻi's flower source) is designated the official state tree in the same year
Hawaii state legislature formally codifies the eight-island color and lei material system in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, giving legal standing to a color tradition practiced culturally for at least a century
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What the Colors Represent
Hawaii's eight-island color system is fundamentally a botanical and geographic color palette: each color is the color of a specific native (or historically significant) plant that grows on that island, creating a direct visual connection between the land, its native flora, and its official color identity. This approach to color symbolism — grounding official colors in the natural world rather than in heraldic tradition, military history, or national loyalty — is uniquely Hawaiian and reflects the Native Hawaiian cultural worldview in which the natural environment, the divine, and human identity are deeply interconnected.
Volcanic Red: Hawaiʻi Island
The Big Island's red is the most geologically resonant of the eight island colors. The ʻōhiʻa lehua blossom — a feathery, bottlebrush-style flower that grows in brilliant red on lava fields — is one of the first living things to colonize fresh volcanic rock after an eruption, making it a symbol of resilience, renewal, and the creative power of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. Hawaiian legend holds that ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua were lovers transformed by Pele into a tree and flower; to pick the lehua blossom from the ʻōhiʻa tree is said to cause rain, as Lehua cries for separation from ʻŌhiʻa.
Royal Yellow: Oʻahu
Oʻahu's yellow ʻilima occupies a uniquely prestigious position in Hawaiian floral culture. The ʻilima was the flower of Hawaiian royalty, historically worn only by aliʻi (chiefs) in lei of exceptional elaborateness and beauty. The flowers are paper-thin and require 500 to 1,000 individual blossoms to string a single lei, making an ʻilima lei a labor of extraordinary devotion. As the most populous island and the seat of the Hawaiian Kingdom's government at Honolulu, Oʻahu's royal yellow color reflects its historical position as the center of Hawaiian political and cultural life.
The Forbidden White: Niʻihau
Niʻihau's white stands apart from the other seven island colors in two remarkable ways: it is the only color not derived from a flower but from a shell, and it is associated with the most restricted and culturally preserved island in Hawaii. The pupu o Niʻihau — tiny, lustrous white shells found only on Niʻihau's beaches — are used to create some of the most technically demanding and expensive lei in the world. Niʻihau is privately owned by the Robinson family and has been maintained as a Hawaiian-language community since the 19th century; it is the only place in Hawaii where Hawaiian is still spoken as the primary language of daily life.
Usage in Cultural Events, Flags, and State Identity
Unlike mainland states where official colors appear primarily on the state flag and government branding, Hawaii's island colors function most visibly in living cultural performance. The state flag of Hawaii — eight horizontal stripes of white, red, and blue representing the eight main islands, with the Union Jack in the canton reflecting Hawaii's historical ties to Britain — uses a separate tricolor palette and does not incorporate the eight island colors. Instead, the eight island colors are expressed through the Pāʻū parade tradition, lei-making competitions, hula costumes, and official state cultural events. The Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs incorporate the island color system in cultural programming, and the eight colors appear in educational materials, visitor center displays, and state cultural heritage documentation. The island color system is also prominently featured at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo — the world's most prestigious hula competition — where each island's competing hālau (hula school) may honor their island's color in performance regalia, with broader cross-state comparison in U.S. state colors.
Timeline
Pāʻū parade tradition in its modern organized form is established in Hawaii, with women riders wearing their island's color — the first formal public expression of the eight-island color system
Pāʻū parade tradition in its modern organized form is established in Hawaii, with women riders wearing their island's color — the first formal public expression of the eight-island color system
Maui officially designates the Lokelani Rose as its island flower, the only non-native species and the only island flower designated before the 2000 statewide codification
Hawaii admitted to the Union on August 21 as the 50th state; the kukui tree (Molokaʻi's flower source) is designated the official state tree in the same year
Hawaii admitted to the Union on August 21 as the 50th state; the kukui tree (Molokaʻi's flower source) is designated the official state tree in the same year
Hawaii state legislature formally codifies the eight-island color and lei material system in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, giving legal standing to a color tradition practiced culturally for at least a century
"Hawaii's island color system is unlike any other official color tradition in the United States — it is a living, botanical, and culturally performed palette in which the colors are not symbols of history or national loyalty but direct expressions of each island's native landscape and the Native Hawaiian worldview that sees land, life, and identity as inseparable."
Quick Answers
What is the official state color of Hawaii?
What is the HEX code for Big Island Red?
What is the HEX code for Oahu Yellow?
What is the HEX code for Kauai Purple?
Why does each Hawaiian island have its own color?
What is Niihau's color and why is it different from the others?
What is the Pāʻū parade?
Sources
- Hawaii Revised Statutes - Island Colors and Lei Materials
- Hawaii State Archives - State Symbols
- Office of Hawaiian Affairs - Island Identity
- KHON2 News - Colors Representing Main Islands of Hawaiʻi
- Hawaii Magazine - The 8 Flowers for the 8 Main Hawaiian Islands
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