Why It Matters That Hillary Clinton Wore White at the DNC

This week Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States. She closed out the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last night with an acceptance speech that outlined her vision for America, and put Donald Trump in his place ("A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.").

Sure, she looked radiant in a white suit and her hair was a blow-dried vision, but this night was not about her clothes. No designer has come forward to claim credit, and that is as it should be. The focus, rightly, was on this historic moment and her speech.

Still, clothes telegraph an image and a message, which is something Clinton and her team clearly understand. The pantsuit is a Clinton staple, but the color choice—white—contains historical significance and references.

It's the color the Suffragettes wore to fight for a woman's right to vote. In the New York Times, Vanessa Friedman cites a mission statement for the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage which declares white—"the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose"—as one of its official colors.