A blog dedicated to chronicling how the 116th Congress uses fashion to shake up Capitol Hill would be remiss if it didn’t blog about the fashion event that happened during President Trump’s February 2019 State of the Union speech. Nearly every Democratic female lawmaker wore white. When the camera panned away from Trump to scan the House chamber, the women were impossible to miss.
Photo credit: Alex Wong
Even Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who sat on the dais directly behind Trump, wore white (and created a new kind of clapping).
Photo credit: Doug Mills
The white outfits were a form of social protest over Trump’s often insensitive attitude towards women. He has compared women to pigs, bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy”, and famously called his opponent a “nasty woman” on national television.
In addition to symbolizing their philosophical ancestors (the suffragists), Congresswomen wore white as a tribute to those who voted for them in the 2018 midterm elections. Representative Lois Frankel (D-FL) tweeted “By wearing suffragette white to #SOTU2019.. we’re sending a message to everyone that voted for @HouseDemocrats & delivered us the majority that we’re working #ForThePeople, promoting the economic security of women & their families!”
They seemed pretty joyous about it.
Photo credits (clockwise from upper left): Rep. Deb Haaland twitter, Tom Williams, Rep. Doris Matsui twitter, Erin Schaff.