I ♥ Red for Valentine’s Day

By Elle

Cute find at Target

I love wearing red any day of the year — it gives me a sense of power, or self-assuredness more like — but I especially love to wear red on Valentine’s Day.

In my Scarf This Down post, I feature one of my favorite combos: my red/grey striped turtleneck paired with a floral scarf. I’m going to start with my turtleneck to create my Valentine’s Day outfit.

I love two things about my red/grey turtleneck — besides the fact that I bought it on clearance at a department store for $4 and, no, I am not kidding. One, it has external red stitching along all the seams. The stitching is subtle, but it gives the shirt a little character. Two, it’s lightweight and stretchy, so it fits close to the body. These qualities make it perfect for wearing beneath something else such as a sweater.

Valentine's Day outfit

I happen to have a lovely grey sweater with grey fabric flowery “poofs”on the side (NY & Co. online sale) that I think will go nicely with my turtleneck. I also have a funky skirt in black, red and grey, handmade from old sweaters, that I bought it at Bazaar Bizarre, an annual (and what I would call sophisticated) craft event. You can see that the stitching on the skirt is external.

I’ve added lacy grey tights and black boots that feature external red stitching, which mirrors the external red stitching in my turtleneck and the external stitching on the skirt. (I’ll talk more about mirroring features in a future post.)

So here’s why this outfit looks super-great: The colors coordinate; the textures are complementary; and, even though it’s subtle, the combo of external stitching helps pull the entire outfit together.

Note the red external stitching on these boots

Now I can look forward to a romance-filled Valentine’s Day with my No. 1 man!

Lessons here: Don’t disregard the clearance racks, and do look for qualities in clothing or accessories that you like and already have in other items.