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The significance of those purple outfits on Inauguration Day

Biden Inauguration
Posted at 11:28 AM, Jan 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-20 13:28:28-05

Vice President Kamala Harris confidently walked to the Inauguration platform outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, wearing a purple dress and purple coat. Besides being a stunning jewel tone, purple also has significance.

Historically, purple was associated with nobility, it was also the original color favored by suffragettes before they were associated with white.

"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; and gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving," reads a newsletter from the National Woman’s Party in 1913, according to Marie Claire.

Recently, purple has become a metaphor for bipartisanship because it’s literally red and blue together.

APTOPIX Biden Inauguration
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive for the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

Harris wasn’t alone in the color choice: Former First Lady and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also wore purple, in her signature pantsuit style, as well as former First Lady Michelle Obama who opted for a reddish-purple sweater and pants, and Senator Elizabeth Warren donned a purple scarf and mask.

APTOPIX Biden Inauguration
Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle arrive for the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)