--- title: DNC: Hillary Clinton White Pantsuit History description: To accept the Democratic nomination, Clinton wore a white suit with a strong historical message canonical: https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T20:04:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:02.626Z og:title: The Feminist Story Behind Hillary Clinton's White Suit og:description: It's a nod to women's suffrage og:url: https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a02f00fa8425294/6988a05ebc6cfc773c3de0f3/hillary-clinton-dnc-white-suit-history.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 2016 Democratic National Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Feminist Story Behind Hillary Clinton's White Suit twitter:description: It's a nod to women's suffrage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a02f00fa8425294/6988a05ebc6cfc773c3de0f3/hillary-clinton-dnc-white-suit-history.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Feminist Meaning Behind Hillary Clinton's White Suit by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 29, 2016 8:04 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, smiles while arriving on stage during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, July 28, 2016\. Division among Democrats has been overcome through speeches from two presidents, another first lady and a vice-president, who raised the stakes for their candidate by warning that her opponent posed an unprecedented threat to American diplomacy. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, smiles while arriving on stage during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, July 28, 2016\. Division among Democrats has been overcome through speeches from two presidents, another first lady and a vice-president, who raised the stakes for their candidate by warning that her opponent posed an unprecedented threat to American diplomacy. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDaniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 29, 2016 8:04 PM UTC Hillary Clinton is no stranger to criticism about her clothing and [accessories](http://motto.time.com/4376385/hillary-clinton-designer-bag/), however sexist it may be to discuss. But Thursday night, as she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton wore a striking white pantsuit with a strong backstory, and we should talk about that. White was one of the main colors of the women’s movement, the New York _Times_ [explains](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/fashion/hillary-clinton-democratic-national-convention.html). The _Times_ writes, “White, along with purple and gold, were the official colors of the [National Woman’s Party](https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/votesforwomen/tour%5F02-02o.html) and the suffragist movement.” The National Woman’s party wasn’t the only political movement to utilize white in their color palette. The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage’s [mission statement](http://nationalwomansparty.org/the-national-womans-party-and-the-meaning-behind-their-purple-white-and-gold-textiles/), published in December 1913, claimed, “White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose.” Clinton’s palette echoed the choice of another [trailblazing woman](http://time.com/4429631/dnc-hillary-clinton-first-woman-nominee/). _Refinery 29_ [points out](http://www.refinery29.com/2016/07/118352/hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-dnc) that Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential nominee, also wore white during the 1984 Democratic Convention. > [](https://twitter.com/cathleendecker/status/758854258519191553) > [](https://twitter.com/JillBorak/status/758854499498799109) Clinton’s [acceptance speech](http://time.com/4430456/hillary-clinton-dnc-speech/) spoke volumes on the future, but her outfit was a fitting nod to the past. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/"},"headline":"The Feminist Meaning Behind Hillary Clinton's White Suit","datePublished":"2016-07-29T20:04:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:02.626Z","description":"It's a nod to women's suffrage","url":"https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a02f00fa8425294/6988a05ebc6cfc773c3de0f3/hillary-clinton-dnc-white-suit-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a02f00fa8425294/6988a05ebc6cfc773c3de0f3/hillary-clinton-dnc-white-suit-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 2016 Democratic National Convention","caption":"The 2016 Democratic National Convention","creditText":"Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/","name":"The Feminist Meaning Behind Hillary Clinton's White Suit"}}]}] ```