Last night, just before Hillary Clinton walked on stage, I asked a friend and my husband to call it: What color would she wear?

Both said white, and I agreed.

There were many reasons for her to wear white. With a cloud of ethical misconduct hanging over her head, and a long history of controversy behind her, white was a no-brainer. It evokes innocence and purity.

It connotes, powerfully, the White House itself.

It’s also an amazing color for mature women. Want to wear black? Consider white instead. The right white (warm versus cool) will make a woman glow. It reflects light, so it lights women up, making them look young, energetic, and vibrant.

It was obvious too what Clinton would wear once I saw that Ann Holton, VP candidate Tim Kaine’s wife, was wearing royal blue, and that Chelsea Clinton was wearing a gorgeous, warm red.

Key communications and media people had spent weeks staging the DNC, and what the key players would wear was central to their calculations. At the end of the evening, they would gather together on stage, and everyone needed to look good together and right for the occasion, and occasion that obviously called for a display of red, white, and blue.

Clinton strode onto the stage looking happy, modern, and confident in her white pantsuit. It was simple and soft but structured enough to give her the look of a power outfit. It struck the perfect balance between feminine and powerful.

Clinton’s choice of outfit had resonances that reached further back in history, though.

It harked back to Geraldine Ferraro, VP candidate in 1984, who wore white for her acceptance speech.

And it reached back to the suffrage movement, whose followers wore often white.

Here’s why:

From the beginning, the suffragettes distinguished themselves by adopting iconic colors and images. They wanted to be visible in a crowd, to distinguish easily which shop owners were supportive, to be able to speak without having to say a word. The U.S. movement used white, gold and purple for buttons, pins, sashes, flags, clothing, horses — you name it. White symbolized purity; gold, hope; and purple, dignity. Wearing white was also a way to demonstrate their purity in reaction to men hurling insults like “Any women in the streets must be women of the streets” to discredit their work. —Waging War on Violence

Hillary Clinton’s clothing choices have long been the subject of controversy and derision. Typically, the designer of an outfit worn in such a high profile situation As Vanessa Friedman points out, the fact that no one has stepped forward to take credit for hers, and the enormous accomplishment for her and all women that last night represents, suggest that finally she—and we—may finally have put the issue to rest.

It’s about time.

You can read more about HRC’s feminist pantsuit here, here, and here.