Kamala Harris' Purple Inauguration Coat Designed by SCAD Graduate and Baton Rouge Native

Kamala Harris' Purple Inauguration Coat Designed by SCAD Graduate and Baton Rouge Native

The new vice president’s vibrant ensemble had Southern roots.

Kamala Harris' bright purple inauguration ensemble was significant for a number of reasons.

Harris, the first woman, first woman of color, and first woman of South Asian descent to serve as vice president of the United States, donned a coat by Black fashion designer and Baton Rouge native, Christopher John Rogers.

Rogers graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2016 and has since dressed a host of celebrities including Zendaya, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Michelle Obama.

"Thank you, Madam Vice President," Rogers wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Harris wearing his vibrant design on the steps of the Capitol Building. "We are so honored and humbled to have played a small part in this historic moment."

According to the AP, Harris' pearls and purple nodded to women's suffrage, Shirley Chisholm, and her beloved sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. The new vice president has cited Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress and the first Black major-party candidate to run for president, as an inspiration for her own career.

The color purple was a popular choice amongst the women in attendance, worn in different shades by Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush.

In addition to being a symbol of women's suffrage, purple—the result of mixing red and blue—also represents party unity.

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