Last week, Hillary Clinton gave her moving concession speech in an incredibly poignant pantsuit. The purple lapels on her Ralph Lauren getup were rife with significance: the color, which Clinton rarely wore on the campaign trail, is a combination of the Democratic and Republican hues of blue and red, respectively, and is also a color associated with unity, women's suffrage efforts, and penitence. In other words, an outfit that telegraphed a need to rally together across party lines during the next four years. She followed that powerful outfit choice with a more partisan, yet perhaps, equally meaningful pantsuit at her first post-election speech on Wednesday.
Clinton opted for a royal-blue suit while speaking at the Children's Defense Fund's Beat The Odds gala. Aside from its Democratic associations, the calming hue is synonymous with qualities like loyalty, stability, and confidence. The presidential candidate was candid about how tough it was to move on: "I will admit, coming here tonight wasn't the easiest thing for me," Clinton said. "There have been a few times this past week where all I wanted to do was curl up with a good book and our dogs and never leave the house again."
Repping her party via her fashion choice for her first speech after an often-arduous year and a half of campaigning also aligns with the motivating, perseverance-focused messaging of what she was saying, despite collective uncertainty about what, exactly, a Donald Trump presidency will look like.
"We have work to do and, for the sake of our children and our families and our country, I ask you to stay engaged, stay engaged on every level," Clinton told the crowd. "We need you. America needs you, your energy, your ambition, your talent. That is how we get through this."
Considering HRC was certainly strategic with her wardrobe while on the campaign trail, this latest number is, in all likelihood, an intentional, deliberately partisan color choice. But why shouldn't Clinton be rallying her political affiliates and, more specifically, her loyal followers during this challenging post-election effort to move on?
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