Here's Why Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris are Wearing Purple Today

• Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris all showed up to the inauguration wearing various shades of purple.
• Apparently, the shade reveals a deeper meaning about bipartisanship, since the hue is made by combining red and blue, the colors representing the Democratic and Republican parties.
• Hillary Clinton also wore the hue in her 2016 concession speech while talking about America's political divide.

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Today is the day! The inauguration of Joe Biden has finally arrived. And though tightened security after the Capitol insurrection by a Trump-supporting mob on Jan. 6 has limited crowds, the main political figures have arrived to attend the historic event. Michelle Obama pulled up to the Capitol with Barack Obama wearing a head-to-toe mulberry purple outfit featuring a long coat, pants, a matching top, and a statement gold belt by Sergio Hudson.

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A look at Michelle Obama at the inauguration. pic.twitter.com/njMP8fXxld

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 20, 2021

 

Another person who opted for purple this morning was Hillary Clinton, who went with more of a violet shade with her outfit. She arrived with Bill Clinton shortly after the Obamas.

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Hillary and Bill Clinton arrive at the Capitol. She looks happy under her mask.
Note: she attended Trump's inauguration. pic.twitter.com/O9ZzxqJOCQ

— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) January 20, 2021

 

Soon-to-be Vice President Kamala Harris is also wearing a similar shade to HRC for the ceremony. She donned a purple coat by designer Christopher John Rogers over what looks like a coordinating top. Per CNN's Abby Phillips, Kamala often wore the color in her own presidential campaign as a nod to Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman to run for president in 1972 under the Democratic party and the first Black woman elected to U.S. Congress. Chisholm used the color purple in her campaign flyers.

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Biden and Harris arrive for their inauguration pic.twitter.com/altrmh3kHt

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) January 20, 2021

 

So if you're asking what's up with all the matching going on, many are speculating that it represents bipartisanship and America coming together because combining red (representing the Republican party) and blue (representing the Democratic party) make purple. Swing states are often referred to as "purple" states as well.

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I'm no fashion expert, but I always read purple as a nod to bipartisanship and unity (the theme of the day) since, you know, red + blue = purple. #InaugurationDay https://t.co/0DQtVspU1o

— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) January 20, 2021

 

 

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Seeing a lot of purple outfits at the inauguration. Hillary Clinton had said that she planned on wearing purple on her first day as President had she won the election as a show of bipartisanship.

— Joseph Choi (@JosefChoi) January 20, 2021

 

 

If you remember, Hillary Clinton also wore the color in her 2016 concession speech when she lost to Donald Trump. Bill even wore a purple tie. In her speech she said:

We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future.

Purple (along with green and white) is also on the suffragette flag, due to its connection with royalty. The colors were adopted in 1908 and it represented “the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity." So lots of meanings are associated with the hue, and of course, with the incredible significance of today's inauguration, you know that these figures would use the occasion to make both a fashion and political statement with their clothing.

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