The traditional colors of the New Orleans Mardi Gras are purple, green, and gold. All three colors were used by the Catholic Church throughout history and thus continued to be used in relation to Mardi Gras which was Catholic in origin.
In his book "Krewe: The Early New Orleans Carnival: Comus to Zulu," Errol Laborde shows the above-mentioned meanings of the Mardi Gras colors to be false. He gives a much simpler origin, having to do primarily with looking good.[7]