BERLIN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 24: Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton poses at the “Hillary” premiere during the 70th Berlinale Internat...

What Was Hillary Trying To Tell Us With Her White Pantsuit?

By NADIFA August 19, 2020
BERLIN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 24: Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton poses at the “Hillary” premiere during the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Haus Der Berliner Festspiele on February 24, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Franziska Krug/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton appeared at the DNC to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and warn Americans about the danger of a second Trump victory — and just like four years ago, her white pantsuit spoke volumes. 

It’s the same white pantsuit she wore when accepting her own presidential nomination in 2016, meant as a nod to the women’s suffrage movement. This year, she is also wearing it to honor women’s suffrage, as this week marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave (white) women the right to vote. Other women at the DNC, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Gabby Giffords, also wore them in solidarity with the suffragette movement. But there’s another reason Hillary pulled the white pantsuit out of the back of her closet: to say “I told you so” to the nation, and to remind us of what could have been. 

“For four years, people have said to me, ‘I didn’t realize how dangerous he was.’ ‘I wish I could go back and do it over.’ ‘I should have voted.’ This can’t be another woulda-coulda-shoulda election,” she said. 

“Remember in 2016 when Trump asked: ‘What do you have to lose?’ Well, now we know: our health, our jobs, even our lives,” she said. “Our leadership in the world and, yes, our post office. As Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders warned us on Monday: If Trump is re-elected, it will get even worse. My friends, we need unity now more than ever.”

Secretary Clinton’s 2016 loss triggered a historic wave of feminist activism and an increase in women running for office, which was highlighted in a moving montage before her speech called Women’s Suffrage to Women’s March. Many women on Twitter were inspired by the video and the symbolism of the pantsuit. After her speech, the hashtag #StillWithHer trended on Twitter.

Clinton also acknowledged the misogyny that Sen. Kamala Harris will face running against Trump, just as she did during her presidential campaign “I know a thing or two about the slings and arrows coming her way. Kamala can handle them all,” she said.

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