House of Cards: Claire Underwood Is Trying On Hillary Clinton's Pants in Season 5

When House of Cards released its fifth season this week, you may have noticed something different about Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright. The new Commander in Chief switched out her skirts for pants--a look that was deliberately changed to suit her higher ranking.

Claire has always "[used] her physicality to manipulate and disarm," costume designer Kemal Harris told Vanity Fair. "You know, the perfectly fitted pencil skirts -- powerful, sexy but completely contained, covered, controlled." But this season, "she's going full speed ahead, literally rolling up her sleeves, putting on the pants and taking control."

Her new look was inspired in part by Hillary Clinton, whose colorful pantsuits were the talk of the town during last year's election. However, there's a reason that Underwood's wardrobe isn't full-on monochromatic like the aforementioned.

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"We tried a matching pantsuit at the first fitting," Harris added, "but for some reason it didn't feel right. It felt like a much more natural evolution of her style to pair the pants with blouses and turtlenecks, sort of ease her into that look."

House of Cards is now streaming on Netflix.