The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Hillary in Red

All this talk about First Ladies wearing red got me thinking about My So Called Life. In one of the first episodes, the dad character says he thinks Hillary Clinton doesn't wear enough red. That was a "thing" during the '90s, wasn't it--I mean people complaining about Hillary's color palatte? As Dana suggests, maybe the red complaint was shorthand for "she's no Nancy Reagan."

So what does it mean that Hillary wears more red now (at the State of the Union, for example) than she ever did as first lady? I buy that Michelle Obama's trying to evoke Nancy, but surely Hillary's going for something else, right? I think it makes her look tough and bold. The color doesn't evoke submission.