“Now I could stop holding back.”

I was looking around in a high-end consignment shop for something to wear to an event, and I found this Chanel blazer. It’s loud and beautifully hideous, and I owned nothing like it. Which is why I bought it. I didn’t end up wearing it to the event, and it sat in my closet for two years.

As the 2016 presidential election approached, I discovered Pantsuit Nation and thousands and thousands of women online who were sharing their struggles and feeling undermined by men. I experienced an immediate sense of solidarity. They were saying exactly what I felt.

On Election Day, I was on the site reading posts by women talking about what they were going to wear to the polls. And in that instant, I knew: the blazer. I saw this as a symbolic moment, when I could wear something designed by Coco Chanel, this badass powerhouse of a woman, and support the first woman on a presidential ballot.

So I wore it and took a picture and posted it. I had always been a quiet, thoughtful listener and had never been vocal about women’s rights, but now you knew exactly who I was voting for. I lost friends on Instagram and Facebook, but I didn’t care at all. In a way, the blazer helped me realize how important it was for me to have a voice and not give a shit about how my opinion stacked up to other people. Now I could stop holding back. The blazer represents all of that. It represents me going forward.

~ Kelly Krause, conference programming manager, SXSW, Austin, TX