Whoa! Don’t judge. Nyet!! Remember the slogan from the Cold War days of yore? And red is the color of the political party I do NOT belong to!
I’m not with them. Although I have to admit, those Russians of the Cold War era know how to make those communists look might strong!
However, red is my favorite color. It goes back to childhood. My mother used to dress me in bright yellow (a favorite but I’m allergic to bees and yellow attracts bees so I can’t wear yellow during bee season. Which leaves the dead of winter as the only time I can wear yellow) and red.
She said that red looked great with my fish belly white, pale, pasty, fair alabaster coloring and black hair. I guess it also looked good with my sunburned skin after a day at the beach!
I’ve been wearing red all my life. Although I have to say, I do believe my mother has me in too much red in the bottom photo. Red goes well with my crossed eyes too!
And I don’t put that much stock in horoscopes, but with my Zodiac sign being Aries—the best color for this Ram-a-Lang-a-ding-dong lady is ….red!
And a couple of weeks ago when I read one of the blogs I read on a daily basis, une femme d’un certain âge, Susan’s post about red lit a candle under my ass. Red is my favorite color and I have a lot of red in my wardrobe and elsewhere around the house.
East Side. Red Side. All Around The Townhouse! Ton’s of red!
Fuggetabout Halloween and Thanksgiving.
I treated myself to a beauty mask yesterday and realized this will be the extent of my halloween costume. Less than two bucks. I’ll wear red lipstick though! Trust me, this’ll scare the hell out of the trick-or-treaters!
Christmas is my favorite season. My home goes red. I try to get as many red ornaments on the tree. Why I even make sure that the roast I serve is deep red on the inside!
Down to the dishtowels, every accent in the home during Christmas is RED!
Alas, with the magical, fiery and passionate color, you have to be careful with her. Just as there are many moods to a woman going through Menopause, There are many moods of red. She has an abundance of shades, hues and variations ranging from burgundy to an orangey fire-engine red.
Not all reds work for my skin tone. The burgundys look horrific on me. I look sickly and tired. The fire-engine reds are a bit too orange and I have to beware of the other colors I wear with it.
I like my reds the way I like beef. Blue/red. That’s red with a touch of blue—it gives a cooler tone.
“Meat” is my favorite shade of red. I wish I could find this shade of red for clothing and lipstick!
I have a brighter red on my fingers but a deeper red—not quite burgundy on my toes. The fingers look much better. Oddly enough, I like the brighter red on my nails better! And speaking of nail color, you gotta go with what looks best on your skin tone.
The nail place didn’t have OPI’s Dutch Tulips in gel or regular so I had to change things up a bit. Darker on the toes. Brighter on the fingers!
My favorite nail color of all time is OPI’s “You Don’t Know Jacques”. A beautiful clay, taupe, neutral that would look fabulous on my walls, it just looks awful on my hands. My daughter Oona has the coloring that was made for “YDKJ” and wears it regularly. It looks lovely on her.
And over the years with my red experiences, I’ve realized a few things that I would love to share with you. I also want to share the fact that the clothes you will see are all years old. And 99.9 percent have been purchased on deep discounts. I’m very budget-minded!
Red is not a color that you should wear from head to toe unless you are Santa Claus and even good ol’ Santa breaks up the look with white fur trim and black boots! Red stands out and calls for attention. We need to respect redness!
My Courreges ensemble is a hand-me-down from Daniele. I have to get this tailored and cleaned before I wear it. But–it’s a lotta red! And–this needs to be toned down with a black bag, black shoes and no red on the lips!
If I’m wearing red on top, I won’t wear red accessories. One exception is a plaid scarf. More on that later on. Really. I’ll stick to my big white faux pearl necklace and wear a pearl bracelet or a gold-tone or leather-strapped watch. (This reminds me I need a black-banded watch. Put it on the list!)
My red Tippi Sweater from J. Crew. Boy, is this an oldie but goodie!
Same with my favorite red skirt that I got two years ago on sale for $29.99 at J. Crew. It’s my Christmas Skirt.
I LOVE this flouncy skirt. It’s such a fun skirt to wear during the holidays. It is a very heavy wool skirt and was worth far more than the $29.99 I paid for it! One of my best deals ever!
Here’s a better photo of the skirt. On the left is an old faithful. A striped number I picked up at Old Navy too many years ago for a grand total of six bucks! Let me add. OLDER women over 50 and 60 CAN wear skirts like this. Keep it simple!
I’ll stick to one or two things red thing red—most of the time.
Here—let me show you how in badly-focused photos. Trust me; this is a labor of love today. After I write the text I have to take my hair out of individual rollers, blow dry each section, put the rollers back in, and put makeup on, take out the rollers, Toppik my bald spots and get dressed. I do this because I love you!
Do you like my red lips? I do but it’s too much bother to wear a red lip on a daily basis. I have to do concealer then make sure it doesn’t bleed. This lip color is “Ulta Matte Lip Cream” in “Passion” It really is a beautiful red!
I love everything in this pic–the bag, the shoes and the scarf. However, I would not wear all three at the same time. It would be a bit too accessory matchy-matchy for me.
The red flats (from J. Crew) nestled in between my Vince Camuto heels and the J. Crew factory flats with a hint of red in the plaid.
The latest addition to my red collection. This was given to me by my childhood friend, Anne Neagle. She was cleaning out her closets and sent this fabulous bracelet. Anne knows I love red and the letter “H”! Hello!!!!
I have a red Coach Legacy wallet that is now in storage. See that red clutch? It’s years old–I paid $9.99 at TJ Maxx and every time I wear it I get compliments. I also love the gold chain so when I’m holding a couple of drinks I can sling it over my shoulder. I can’t omit my favorite Longchamp bag!
This Vera Bradley duffel bag? I used it to cart Oona’s feis stuff many years ago. I use it to house my hair rollers these days!
The pants on the left have little tiny dots of red in the middle of the white designs. It is a very subtle touch of red and I love it! I’m wearing it with my new red bracelet–thank you Anne! On the right–don’t judge. Don’t laugh. I actually DO wear these red plaid pants. I almost fainted when I saw them in the clearance rack at Old Navy for $7.00. They look so great with a hunter green Tippi Sweater and Bass Weejuns. I don’t care how “preppy boy” it looks. I love the look!
Here’s another look at the pants. The black ones have a bit of stretch!
Here’s a Buffalo Check shirt. It’s very hipster. I wear this with black leggings and black boots. I’m the cool mom!
Here’s another one of my all-time favorite looks. The checked skirt I got on sale at J. Crew. I love this flouncy look–it’s very flattering. But the black and red just rocks! I like the red bag with the red sweater.
For a change up, red heels look great too. But–a red bag with be overload. I would use a black bag!
On the left is too much red. Way too much. The photo on the right is a better example of wearing red for an office look. I paired the skirt with a navy Tippi sweater and Navy heels. Much better I think! Don’t you?
Whoa. This is so out-of-focus but I wanted to show a blazer that was “ADVERTISED AS RED” on the J. Crew site and is really an orange/red. The scarf I’m wearing is the only scarf that I can wear with this monstrosity of a jacket.
A black Schoolboy Blazer (J. Crew didn’t lie this time about the color) worn with a navy and red scarf. (I love navy/black/red combos). The jeans are Gap 1969 Legging Jeans in the short length. I like this length with boots and ballet flats. With heeled shoes I like my jeans longer. Again, if you want a bit more red the red ballet flats look fine with this. I prefer the black ballet flats. A red bag and the red leather bracelet give just the right amount of red..
This photo was so out-of-focus I had to post a small version. I’m wearing a navy Schoolboy blazer with a navy/red plaid scarf…
A red sweater with a red plaid scarf is great too because it isn’t overkill. The other colors of the plaid keep it from being too much!
My most comfy articles of clothing are red-based! Oona will want her sweatshirt back after she sees this!
After changing all those outfits it was great to take everything off and slip into my “at home” sloppy look. It was even better after I re-rolled my hair!
And just as I was about to end my post, Oona sent me this photo. She fell in love with this pillow. Like mother. Like daughter! I may have to run to Target to pick a couple of these babies up! Bonaparte will kill me if I bring another pillow into the house!
So what say you? Are you better off red? What color do you absolutely love that you have tons of? I want to know. We all want to know!
Tchin Tchin! I like my drinks red too! Here’s a toast to the color red and a toast to all my friends who are reading and not reading!
Of course, today’s song has to be “Lady in Red”. Chris de Burgh. 1986!
