Like a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters, Jill Carey has gone into mourning over Donald Trump’s election. But on Wednesday, as a professor of historic dress at Lasell College in Newton, she enjoyed a rare uplifting thought:

“Trump’s victory is going to empower the pantsuit more than we can imagine,’’ she said. “I envisioned millions of us marching on Washington with our pantsuits on if they try to overturn Roe v. Wade.’’

It’s true that Trump vanquished “Our Lady of the Pantsuit’’ — as a Salon headline writer called Clinton. But he has not driven a stake through the pantsuit’s heart. Some think his rhetoric has instead imbued the pantsuit with a power it has never enjoyed.

Before Clinton took ownership of her once-mocked pantsuits — before the pantsuit became a hashtag and a millions-strong Facebook group (Pantsuit Nation) — it occupied a position not unlike “Old Boyfriend’’ in many a woman’s life.

Every woman had a pantsuit story, and often it was kind of emotional.

It was what she wore to her first day of work at her first job out of college, nervous as all get-out. It was the armor she donned daily to work in a male-dominated office. It was what she put on when she returned from maternity leave — a way to reassert her professional identity.

Some 20 years later, Lauren Beckham Falcone, the sidekick on WROR’s “Loren & Wally Show,’’ still recalls the words of a friend who had broken off her engagement.

“This is a blessing,’’ the friend said, so relieved that she wouldn’t find herself at the age of 35, stuck going to her husband’s dull work parties “in a pantsuit.’’

Falcone let out a pantsuit-related laugh. “It’s a fate worse than death — to end up at a function with a pantsuit on.’’

As a wardrobe staple the pantsuit has never really gone away, but it’s not quite in fashion either. But now, with more product placement than any garment could hope for, will it trend in women’s closets again?

That remains to be seen, but there are signs that it’s not going away. Elizabeth Warren — a possible contender for the 2020 nomination — rocks herself a nice pantsuit.

And as those who watched Trump’s victory speech may have noticed, there was a pantsuit up on stage with him, too. It was white, the same color that Hillary Clinton wore when she accepted her party’s nomination. It was worn by Melania Trump, our country’s next first lady.

Beth Teitell can be reached at beth.teitell@globe.com