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Melania Trump wears white pantsuit to State of the Union

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Melania Trump is sporting a white pantsuit — a favorite sartorial choice of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and a color once worn by Democrats to protest President Trump — to her husband’s first State of the Union address. 

The first lady, dressed in a tailored white suit, was seen smiling and chatting ahead of Trump’s remarks on Tuesday at the Capitol. The State of the Union marked her first public appearance since The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Trump’s personal lawyer had arranged a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with the then-real estate mogul.

{mosads}Female Republican House lawmakers announced plans earlier Tuesday to wear variations of red, white and blue to the address to show support for the military.

Many Democratic women in Congress, meanwhile, are wearing black to show solidarity with the “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” movements against sexual misconduct. The first lady could have chosen white to counter the Democratic women’s choice of black on Tuesday.

Clinton wore a white pantsuit to the inauguration last year; Vanity Fair reported at the time the choice was “likely not coincidental.”

The color was a favorite “worn by suffragettes in the early 20th century, standing for purity, in an effort to protect them from their opponent’s claims of immorality,” the magazine said at the time.

Clinton also donned a Ralph Lauren-designed white suit when she accepted the Democratic nomination in 2016 and at the final presidential debate.

Last year, women in the House Democratic Caucus wore white during Trump’s joint address to Congress in honor of women’s suffrage. 

“We wear white to unite against any attempts by the Trump Administration to roll back the incredible progress women have made in the last century, and we will continue to support the advancement of all women,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) said at the time.  

In 2016, Melania Trump raised eyebrows when she wore a dramatic Gucci pussy-bow shirt to a GOP presidential debate.

Tags Donald Trump Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton Lois Frankel Melania Trump Melania Trump Pantsuit SOTU 2018 State of the Union

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