By Morenike Taire

Black is the colour no one can do without, especially if you are a woman, fat or like to get on the red carpet. While black might seem like the easiest colour to do, it is also interestingly the easiest colour to get wrong. Here are tips:-

*Do black with Metallic

Bright gold, burnt gold, silver, platinum, rust, bronze. All the metallic you can think of go with black like a house on fire. Get creative, but don’t overdo it. You are trying to attract positive attention, not a magnet.

*Do black with other dark colours

Navy blue, bottle blue, army green, indigo and purple are also good to do black with and can raise the profile of your outfit   if you can do it sophisticated. The trick is to combine with very rich textures such as suede, soft nu-buck, alligator skin or satins. Regular leather is a firm and definite no-no!

*Do black with an Updo

Formal black always goes with an updo. Very glam hair would pass, but casual hair is a definite no-no.

*Do Black with Style

Yes, the little black dress, the long slinky dress and the ballgown with glitter are the safest of the safe when it comes to formal black. Still there is plenty of room for adventure and the stylish black dress can even blow your looks away more than the conventional.

*Don’t do black with Flats and blocks

Yes, the temptation will always be there but do not fall into it. It makes the look fall flat on its face. Ballet flats, roman sandals and the like   look good on a group shopping trip or a brunch with the girls but definitely not with formal black.   Block heels and wedges +are even worse, making the look just sloppy all round. Lay off the black if you don’t have the shoes. The higher, thinner and more precarious the heels look, the better.

*Don’t do black with too many Accessories

Accessories are the most potential killers of any good outfit, how much more black. Minimize jewelry especially, earrings and neckwear. On a good day, a simple classy chain would do, while earrings should not be bulky, as demure as possible. Also avoid bangles and bulky belts, hats and scarves of any sort.

*Don’t do black Midcalf

Office black is knee length or just below/above the knees but if your modesty allows you to wear a dress only midcalf, do not wear black.

*Don’t do black with Tacky

With formal black as with everything else, there are rules and while there are exceptions to the rule the exception must be an improvement over the default and   not the other way round. Doing the tacky might be easy to get away with, with other colours. It might even look cute but with black, keep it on the straight and narrow.