Why Democratic women are wearing white at the DNC

Caption

Lori Hefner-Vargo, Carmen Bell, Fadia Halma and Lori McFarland from Pennsylvania's Lehigh County wore white and made sashes as a sign of respect for Vice President Harris. / NPR

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.

As delegates gather on the convention floor today in Chicago, there’s a very clear fashion trend. Women are wearing white, in honor of the suffragists who fought to earn women the right to vote more than 100 years ago.

Word spread through Facebook groups and group chats as convention-goers packed their bags.

Sitting in the Pennsylvania section, Lori McFarland, Fadia Halma, Carmen Bell and Lori Hefner-Vargo took it one step further, fashioning sashes out of Kamala Harris scarves to complete their suffragist look.

“We all think we were suffragettes in a previous life,” said McFarland.

Hillary Clinton famously wore white during momentous nights during her 2016 campaign, and linked her effort to break that “highest hardest glass ceiling” with the women who came before her.

“This is a book end. The beginning of the week was a celebration of our right to vote,” said Carmen Bell. “And tonight we’re going to celebrate our shot to break this final glass ceiling.”

They said they are hoping to attend the inauguration of the first female president of the United States and are already thinking about their outfits. But first, there’s tonight, when Harris will accept her party’s nomination.

“I think it’s really important when she’s up there and when she looks out and she sees us all in white, that she sees us and we’re all standing with her,” said Fadia Halma, who hatched the sash plan.