Kamala Harris speaking at Howard University was to be an image for history: a record of the first woman president, not to mention the first Black female president and the first president of South Asian descent, giving her victory speech. Instead, what turned out to be her concession speech became the coda to an unprecedented election; the end of one story, rather than the beginning of another. That did not mean that Harris was any less a pioneer, or a role model, in the moment – even if what she was modeling was how to make over the public face of defeat.
Standing before the red bricks and the white columns that provide the backdrop for Howard commencements, Harris wore a businesslike pantsuit in a muddy burgundy that read, through the screen, as almost purple (interpret that as you will). The jacket was buttoned, a US flag pin bright against one lapel, and the pants were cut with a bit of a flare at the calf. With it, she wore her usual pumps, pearl earrings and a satin blouse in the same eggplant shade, complete with a cravat, or ascot-like tie.
If there was a telling detail, that was it. Read more: 'Performance of power': The pussy-bow blouse – fashion trend or rallying cry? The cravat is a cousin of the floppy bow Harris has often worn at major public occasions – the one that seemed to symbolise both tradition and subversion, menswear and a woman’s place, and to acknowledge that despite the fact that she had never put gender at the centre of her candidacy, it was .