Democrats look pink to protest

Forget the white safragist pantsuit, the female Trump opposing political uniform during her first term as president. About 30 members of the Democratic Women's Caucus were wearing bright pink tints when President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

In the sea of ​​dark suits in the house room, all of the pinks were not to be missed. It was also impossible not to question whether Congressional members were falling into an old performance strategy rather than addressing their bigger issues.

There was a Hot Pink lawmaker. Shell pink. In baby pink. Pink jacket and pink skirt. There was also a lawmaker with a pink tie. Nancy Pelosi wore a bright pink pantsuit. A bubble gum pink blazer scribbled in black by “Our People” of Hawaii, representative of Jill Tokuda. New Mexico president Teresa Leger Fernandez, chairman of the Caucus, raspberry jacket and cotton candy palazzo pants.

“What's going on is more extreme than ever, so I decided to use a stronger colour,” Fernandez said, noting, among other things, Trump's policies and executive orders on women's healthcare and Ukraine. Pink said, “the colour of feminine power, sustainability and resistance.”

As a colour, pink is associated with stereotypes and marginalized women and gay people in modern times. In the 1970s, the term “pink collar job” referred to jobs that women had overwhelmingly envisioned: secretaries, nurses, cleaning women. The term “pink ghetto” was later coined to refer to low-wage women's labor.

However, Elsa Ciaparelli also called the colour “shocking!” And Barbie made pink the feminist flag.

It speaks about a woman's body and flesh in almost visceral ways. (There's a reason breast cancer perceptions adopted the pink ribbon.) It also reminds me of 2017 and Trump's first term.

The hats have not appeared again, but by adopting the colour and extending it all over their clothes, Congress women are trying to reclaim it as a sign of the opposition. It created a striking contrast with the calm, grey Dior suit worn by Melania Trump and the black Oscar de la Renta of Ivanka Trump. Needless to say, in a somewhat confused light, the blushing trouser suit from Los Angeles label The SEI.

Other colors were used as a form of quiet denial during Trump's speech. Illinois president Bill Foster wore a yellow and blue tie to support Ukraine, as many of his colleagues did.

However, it was pink that seemed to symbolize the complications.

Still, lawmakers believed it was worth wearing something prominent. Trump may have a microphone, Fernandez said, “But in the colours in front of his eyes, we can register a protest,” or at least try.

(Of course, the protest wasn't just a matter of colour. Democrats brought guests to their addresses, focusing on those who harmed Trump's policies, carrying paddles that read “Musk Steel,” “Lies,” and “Save Medicaid.”)

It's hard to know if Pink is bothering Trump or spurring him, but it's clear that Trump is hypersensitive to the power of his costume, especially during his high public pageantry and peak television audience. See how he greeted Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky last week before busting his diplomacy. Trump has his own patriotic uniform, with both vice president JD Vance and speaker Mike Johnson styled himself to a joint address.

It's no wonder that dresses became a form of quiet protest in almost every union state during Trump's first term. White suits for 2017, 2019, and 2020. Black #MeToo from 2018. By the time of Joe Biden's final coalition state, when the presidential election was ongoing, it was a visual sign of the front depicted on both sides of the party's aisle.