As President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol on Tuesday night — the longest first speech the House chamber has seen since 1964 — the reaction was mixed. Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, was removed for heckling, while some attendees held up signs reading “false” and “lies.” One group, however, chose to make a more visual statement through the power of pink suiting.
Several members from the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC), including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, arrived at the Capitol decked out in monochromatic pink. One representative, Jill Tokuda, hand-wrote words from the US Constitution onto her salmon blazer, while DWC chair and Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez wore a fuchsia tweed cardigan and blush-colored shirt underneath.
Leger Fernandez later told the Washington Post that the group used the color to “raise the alarm about the negative impacts (Trump’s) policies are having on women.”
Rep. Doris Matsui echoed the sentiment on X. “I’m wearing pink to protest Trump betraying women and families for his billionaire buddies,” Matsui wrote. “Women can’t afford Trump. We can’t afford eggs, we can’t afford attacks on our health care, and we can’t afford the discrimination and abuse by his administration.”
The matching looks were covered extensively by news publications in the hours after the address. For some observers, though, the stylistic protest did not have the desired effect. On social media, the harmonized suits were slammed as “performative” and “empty.” Nichola D. Gutgold, Penn State communications professor and author of “Electing Madam Vice President,” agreed, noting that the synchronized pink was “a bad look.”
“Coordinating your clothing is associated with being a bridesmaid,” she told CNN on a phone call. “It’s not associated with great leadership.”
Gutgold has been researching the topic of women in non-traditional roles — specifically political office — for 20 years. In that time, she believes she has witnessed “a shift” in news outlets focusing less on the clothing choices of female politicians. “The conversation is not starting with what women are wearing like it used to,” she said.
That made the pink protest on Tuesday feel like a step backward, in Gutgold’s view. “I think it minimizes women when they dress alike, especially in a color like hot pink associated with Barbie,” she explained. “I don’t think it comes across as a strong political statement.”
This isn’t the first time Democratic women have used their wardrobes to communicate solidarity. In 2017, 66 members of the House Democratic Women’s Working Group wore white to Trump’s address to Congress during his first term as president. White became a symbolic color after it was worn in the early 20th century by suffragettes protesting for their right to vote. Since then, white has been used as a reference point by female politicians during key moments — from Hilary Clinton’s concession speech in 2016 to Kamala Harris celebrating Joe Biden’s presidential win — and her ascension to the vice presidency — in 2020.
Color coordination is not a fool-proof strategy, however, as demonstrated when Republican Rep. Mary Miller took her seat at Trump’s congress address — also dressed in hot pink. Although Miller was stationed on the opposite side of the room, away from the sea of rosy DWC members, at that moment her personal fashion choice was a drop in the ocean.
Distraught that she might be linked to the political opposition, Miller took to X shortly after the event to set the record straight, as she criticized the Democrats for being “liars and frauds,” adding: “No way was I changing out of my feminine pink suit!”
