Why Hillary Clinton Wore A Red Pantsuit Today

Hillary Clinton proved during the election that she knows the potential of a good pantsuit. At various times during her campaign, she's chosen various colors to convey messages of empowerment and unity. And today, at the Girls, Inc. luncheon in New York, the former Democratic nominee wore a red pantsuit to add support to another important initiative: A Day Without A Woman.

Clinton spoke to the New York sector of Girls, Inc. as she honored Lisa Blau, Annie and Maggie Ford Danielson, Shaun Robinson, and Barry Sternlicht who were all dressed in red, too — the official color of A Day Without A Woman. “Sometimes the road to progress can feel like it’s two steps forward and one step back, particularly when it comes to advancing the rights and opportunities, and full participation of women and girls," Clinton said in her speech. "It can seem discouraging whether you’ve been on that road for a long time, or you’re just starting out, but think how different the world would be today if the people who came before us had not just gotten discouraged, but because of that, had given up.”

Throughout her campaign, Clinton used fashion as symbolism, to send a message to anyone paying attention. To wit: When she accepted her Democratic nomination at the DNC, she wore white, which the fashion community took to be another ode to the suffragette movement. During the Presidential Debates, she wore red and blue to the first two rounds, and then finished with a white pantsuit, ending with the powerful color as a nod to where it all began.

When Clinton lost the election, she wore purple, a color of unity that represented the coming together of red and blue. And when she attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., she wore yet another white pantsuit, which we interpreted to be a shoutout to her longstanding supporters everywhere that, despite the cards she’d been dealt, she was still with us. All of these moments inspired the popular Facebook group Pantsuit Nation, which sees its nearly 4 million members sharing Hillary Clinton-inspired stories of activism daily.