Red Season: How to Wear Autumn's It-Colour

Red is not one colour this autumn, it's three, and they behave completely differently. Tomato is loud and slightly retro. Burgundy is the safe one that everybody will own by October. Oxblood is the dark, almost-brown version that reads as expensive and is the hardest to find in a good shade.

But who else has found red to be a bit of a styling challenge? This guide is here to help you find a way to make the reds work for you, and NOT the other way round…let’s get into it.

Which red is yours

The short version: tomato wants contrast around it, burgundy wants to be the whole outfit, and oxblood wants to be an accessory doing the hidden work. If you have warm colouring, tomato and cherry will look better on you than burgundy. If you're cooler, burgundy and oxblood sit closer to your skin and tomato can look like it's shouting over you.

None of that is a rule so much as a starting point. I wear a lot of green, so I came to red sideways through oxblood, which sits next to green far more comfortably than a bright tomato does.

Tonal red is easier than it sounds

Head-to-toe red in one shade is the look of the season and it is simpler than mixing, because you're not trying to find a second colour that works. A burgundy knit with a burgundy skirt reads as deliberate even when the two reds aren't an exact match, and slight variation between the pieces actually looks better than a perfect match.

What kills it is a black shoe on the bottom. Brown, oxblood or a red that continues the line. Black stops it dead and makes the aesthetic…let’s say jarring.

Red with a print, which is where it gets interesting

Solid red is the easy version. The one I would push people towards is red inside a print, because it gives you the colour without the commitment and it is far more forgiving if you have not worked out which red suits you. A leopard print with a red ground, a floral with red in it, a check running burgundy through brown. All of these read as the trend without any of the risk of a flat block of the wrong shade next to your face.

It also solves the problem of red being quite a serious colour. A block burgundy outfit is elegant and a bit severe. The same burgundy broken up by a print is warmer, and much easier to wear on a normal Tuesday rather than only to things.

If you want one red thing, make it a shoe or a bag

This is where I'd start anyone who's nervous about it. A burgundy boot under dark denim does more for an outfit than a red top ever will, because it's the last thing you see and it's doing something unexpected at the bottom of a neutral look.

A red bag against camel or chocolate is the other easy one, and it's the version that carries through from now until Christmas without looking seasonal.

And the red dress

The one piece where I'd spend properly. A good red dress is a decade of Christmas parties, weddings and dinners where you couldn't be bothered to think. Cherry and burgundy both photograph well, which tomato does not always do under indoor light.

If you buy nothing else, try a burgundy knit. It's the least frightening entry point, it goes with the denim you already own, and it'll tell you fairly quickly whether you want to go further into the season's best colour.

Prices and stock move quickly once a colour gets this much attention, so don't leave it too long.