Fashion: Red hot for spring

Red is the colour for spring, but it can be tricky to wear. Stephanie Smith has advice on how to make it work for you.
Red shirt dress, £69, Laura Clement for La Redoute on www.laredoute.co.ukRed shirt dress, £69, Laura Clement for La Redoute on www.laredoute.co.uk
Red shirt dress, £69, Laura Clement for La Redoute on www.laredoute.co.uk

Come on now – we’ll have no complaints that the colour red is draining and too over-powering for your delicate complexion. There is a red for everyone out there. And that includes you.

Red is often considered to be a winter or festive shade, its bold hue acting as a defining contrast for snow, if we have it, or winter white clothing, if we don’t.

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However, this spring, red has become hot. Hot enough to wear on a fresh morning, hot enough for work, for a night out, or as a coat, or as a print or as an accent shade for your accessories.

So, which red to choose? Warm red has more yellow in it, so like a tangerine red, while cool red has more blue, like a fuchsia or a magenta. There is a received wisdom that says fair skins suit cool reds and darker skins suit warm reds, but actually, you have to experiment – the right warm red can pop magically on a fair skin. And many darker skin tones can wear both warm and cool shades of red without too much of a problem, but again, experiment. Red is a hard colour to buy online, because it really is best to see how it looks in the mirror, preferably with excellent lighting that mimics daylight.

Ask the opinion of experts too. White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds is running free style clinics until Friday and taking part are Debenhams, Primark, New Look, BHS, Warehouse, River Island, Simply Be and Boux Avenue, while The Body Shop, Lush, Boots and Debenhams teams will also be on hand to give spring beauty tips.

Those who spend £70 across one or two receipts on one day will receive a goody bag including free cosmetics and discount vouchers. See www.white-rose.co.uk.

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Red head to toe featured on the catwalks for spring, with Donatella Versace showing a feminine matador look with fit and flare red lace detail maxi dresses teamed with tiny jackets (sports style) and knee high crimson boots.

Saint Laurent, meanwhile, sent Cara Delevingne down the runway in a tres chic rock chick look, with mini skirt teamed with a scarlet cropped military style jacket with gold braid.

In fact. the red jacket is a must for the season, and there’s no need to shy away if you worry that you’re too big for such a statement.

Lavitta is a new, Yorkshire-based clothing brand (Huddersfield, actually) that creates pieces especially for sizes 12-24 (see above, left). All items fall between the £10 and £40 price bracket.

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Vintage is a great way to 
go for red, as you can sometimes find spot-on red shades that just aren’t made any more.

It’s the Saltaire Fashion & Home Vintage Fair this Saturday at the Victoria Hall in the lovely heritage village. Look out for beautiful scarlets and crimsons, like the crushed velvet dress featured here, left, and also for poppy red geo and floral prints.

See www.roseandbrownvintage.co.uk for more details.