Shortly after 5 P.M. on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history. She announced that “the actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution,” and he “must be held accountable—no one is above the law.” The House would launch impeachment proceedings.

When announcing the inquiry, Pelosi chose to wear a deep blue monochrome dress. Pelosi’s choice in clothing was, of course, approximately the 700th most relevant topic in the story—and yet! It’s not altogether moot. The optics of such moments have always mattered, and they do even more so in the content era. Women seem to get all the attention for this stuff, but then, thankfully, I guess, both the president and his partner in dishevelment, Boris Johnson, among others, give us ample opportunity for gender parity when it comes to sartorial criticism (also: tan! suit!).

She likely knew what Tuesday would bring. On Monday night, she met with the cohort of freshman moderate Dems, her guiding light. As they told her then, they would pen an op-ed for the Washington Post suggesting impeachment. During a conversation with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, Pelosi said to the crowd, “Now we have the facts. We’re ready…for later today.”

The dress had clean lines, and was largely unremarkable, especially in the style desert of DC, where one might see tens of versions of this perfectly appropriate outfit on the street on any given weekday. It did stand out well against the row of American flags behind her, but considering the House Speaker’s affinity for a pop of color, it was muted. And then, as if doubling down, she repeated the silhouette on Wednesday as she arrived on Capitol Hill. It was deeply somber black topped with a silver beaded necklace.

I think we can assume Pelosi knew what she was doing when she chose what to wear on these two high-lens-volume days. She has been the subject of excited fervor in the style pages before. In 2019, she wore a bright pink dress to her swearing-in after a brutal election cycle in which conservatives attacked her from every angle. It was a swaggering dress to choose, one you can’t hide in, and cheeky, too, as if she was thumbing hot pink in the faces of those who tried to unseat her. Last December she wore a burnt orange Max Mara coat that grabbed headlines. She and Senator Chuck Schumer, were holding ground over border-wall funding amid a potential government shutdown. She walked out of the White House in the coat and glasses as if she was walking away from an explosion in slow motion, and it was an instant meme. As Barry Jenkins, Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk director, tweeted, “This is diplomacy in motion, soft power wielded like a machete through the diligent, decisive act of dressing.”

She expressed surprise at the attention—she’d worn the coat before!—and even told Harper’s Bazaar in a story published on Monday that she chose it that day because it was “clean.” But the photos were undeniable. Those who wished to see Wonder Woman encased in a jaunty, stylish coat of armor could. A few weeks later, her State of the Union clap joined the White House walkout in the annals of Resistance Twitter iconography. In the months since, though, the discussion around the Speaker has grown more divisive—thanks in large part to her cautious, political approach to the impeachment question as the Mueller report drama played out.

So why the reserved blue dress for the historic moment when it eventually came? Maybe she wanted something simple but strong, somber but professional, in case she had to do any impeaching that day. The president’s track record of evading these jams meant a certain sobriety was in order. It was not a time to gloat—verbally nor sartorially. And maybe it’s just not the stuff of memes anyway.

This article has been updated.

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