Cooler than the red dress....

I have to admit I am not the biggest fan of red, but sometimes its good to push the boundaries of your own style and for me this includes cramming some colour in there, and in particular, colours I don't usually wear. I never thought I'd ever wear neon, to be honest, and now I find myself reaching for highlighter yellow and eye popping on accessories with surprising aplomb. 

It's the same with red. I don't know what it is about this colour, but it's not one I've ever really considered wearing...call it too Christmassy, to Valentine, to overtly associated with novelty to really bother with; I don't know. Especially following the Sex and the City movie, I've always had this notion of a red dress looking like the frightful shoulder padded and cut out number Carrie wears whilst catwalking/discarding the contents of her wardrobe. 80's, trashy, and really not very me at all.

But how wrong I was!

I've discovered a whole plethora of ways to wear red that, well, don't really involve any of the above connotations at all. Firstly, I think that shade is key. For a person who is uneasy of this shade, such as myself, a burgundy or oxblood red is the perfect way to start to inject it into your palette with surprising ease. This colour looks wonderful with a neutral base, such as camel or fawn, and, as you'll see in the example above, actually looks really classy in a print; either as a touch of colour in the print itself, like this aztec one, or combined as a solid colour against a print; such as an oxblood peplum top nestled underneath a leopard print coat.

Secondly, I think it's important to think about what you pair the dress with. If you decide to wear a bright red micro dress and sky high stiletto's, more power to you, but this firey tone can attract a lot of attention, and it wants to be for the right reason. I would pair a bright red mini dress with an oversized, camel blazer and a pair of high cut, black ballet shoes to showcase your legs whilst maintaining a classy level of sophistication and interest. The aztec midi dress abouve would look fabulous with a high heel and a little cropped jacket to take it to eveningwear, or make it festival fabulous with a pair of kicky sneakers and a denim shirt worn open over the top.

I'm not sure I'll ever choose to wear red from head to toe. But it's nice to think that I can include it in my style now without feeling overpowered by it, or that I can't wear it. Which leads me to the only inevitable conclusion...time to go shopping!

XO Amie