Did purple apparel send a message at the State of the Union Address?
During the president’s second State of the Union address, television cameras panned to Michelle Obama who was clad in a brilliant dark purple dress with a full skirt by Isaac Mizrahi. And to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who wore a lavender suit. And to Vice President Joseph Biden, who wore a purple tie. Coincidence? Maybe. Then again, there are few coincidences in politics. “Color sends a message,”‘ says Kate Smith, a color expert who works as a corporate color consultant. “There’s some message on our mind, whether it’s conscious or unconscious.” So, what does purple mean when it comes to politics? Because it is a combination of red and blue, it carries some meanings from both colors. “You’re communicating the trustworthiness from blue as well as some red, the power, the in-charge side of red,” says Smith, who owns Sensational Color, a company based in Washington, D.C. “They’re unifying.” And unification was one of the points of Obama’s speech. He urged the Republicans and Democra
