The message behind Hillary’s neutral pantsuit

Hillary Clinton eschewed the true-blue shades of liberals on Thursday’s Democratic National Convention. At least that’s the message she wanted her clothes to send to Independents and Trump-wary Republicans tuning in to her speech accepting her party’s nomination that night.

Instead of opting for one of her signature bold hues, Clinton stepped out in gleaming white, a soothing, neutral beacon of hope amid a chaotic, volatile election season. (Her daughter Chelsea’s sheath was a bit more transparent in its aim: it was a resplendent Reagan red.)

It was a smart choice. Clinton is a polarizing figure. But the soft suit — which looked like something Olivia Pope would wear more than, say, Angela Merkel — helped complete the image her husband and daughter painted of her as a devoted wife and mother and a tireless crusader (what emails?).
First Lady Michelle Obama during the Inaugural Ball in 2009.
It also evoked the snow-colored dress that Michelle Obama wore to Barack Obama’s first inauguration, all hope and change and #yeswecan. And, perhaps most significantly, it tied her to the suffragettes, who nearly 100 years ago succeeded in getting women the right to vote (while wearing white), and paved the way for Clinton becoming the first woman to be nominated as a presidential candidate.
Earlier this week, a New York Times fashion critic lamented that America’s first woman presidential candidate would probably wear a pantsuit to accept her party’s nomination, arguing that a gal shouldn’t have to wear pants to convince others of her authority.
Yet, there’s nothing more appropriate for the first lady nominee: Even after they could vote and hold office, women in the U.S. Congress still couldn’t wear pants until 1969, according to the Washington Post.
And while an Ivanka Trump may look confident and poised in a simple sheath, Clinton has never looked comfortable in anything but pants.
She’s made the power suit her brand — and on Thursday she didn’t look like she was trying to be one of the guys, she didn’t look like she was trying to feminize a masculine garment with a touch of pink or a scarf or whatever.
She just looked like herself. And that is what makes someone look presidential. Now, let’s hope — after all that talk about manufacturing jobs — that her suit was made in the USA.

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