William Cummings

USA TODAY

Hillary Clinton wore a white suit to her third presidential debate with Donald Trump, sparking theories about the hidden significance behind her wardrobe choice.

It was pointed out that the Democratic nominee wore a red outfit at the first debate, a blue one at the second and a white one in the final debate. That's right, Clinton wore red, white and blue to the debates. Here's the proof:

First debate:

Second debate:



Third debate:

Clinton also wore white to her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in July.

As USA TODAY reported in July, white was one of the three main colors of the women's suffrage movement, along with green and violet, or purple. Some believe the colors were chosen as an acronym for the slogan “Give Women the Vote."

But the symbolism doesn't stop there. “The colors adopted by the union are purple, white and gold, selected for the significance they bear in the work the union has undertaken. Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause. White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose," reads a mission statement for the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in a passage cited by The New York Times.

It's also been suggested that suffragettes wore white because its connotations of virginal purity helped shield them from the accusations of sexual immorality that were often hurled at them from the movement's opponents.

Hillary Clinton was a modern suffragette in Ralph Lauren white for historic DNC speech

The Times also noted that Geraldine Ferraro wore white when she accepted the nomination to become the first female candidate for vice president for a major American political party at the 1984 Democratic convention.

So, it appears Clinton's fashion choice deliberately invoked patriotism and the history of women's struggle for political equality in America.







Contributing: Cara Kelly