'This combination marches up and shakes your eyeballs by the lapels. It is impossible to ignore'
Wearing red and black together has looked wrong for ages. Looking chic has been about being nuanced and subtle, having a beautiful wardrobe but wearing it lightly. Boho chic, layering, feminine minimalism: all those looks are about not stating the obvious. They are about an ideal of style that is deliberately difficult to skewer.
Black and red is the opposite. It marches up and shakes your eyeballs by the lapels. It is impossible to ignore, which is why poor Snow White, with her blood-red lips and raven hair, had to hide in a forest with a bunch of dwarves for her own safety. When all about you are in winter white and oatmeal, or delicate combinations of forest green and blush pinks, black and red looks flat-footed and obvious.
Well, scratch all that. Because the one and only rule you can rely on in fashion is that the look that has been sneered at for decades is exactly the one that is due for a revival, and that's where we are at right now with red and black. The last time this colour combination was chic was in the 80s, when it became an Yves Saint Laurent signature. On the YSL catwalk in those days, black and red was avant garde and daring. It mixed the exotic with power-dressing, cultural capital and boardroom cachet. This time, red and black returns on the coat-tails of the punk and 90s grunge trends. Kilts and plaid shirts have retuned our eyes to the look. But to make it look modern, the new red and black must be prettier, more delicate, than in its rough and ready street-style guise.
Back in the 80s, black and red was given a polish by adding gold. I'm not sure we're quite ready for that. (Still a whiff of beefeater, when you see a shiny gold or brass button on a red and black outfit.) A stripe of white serves the same purpose, but is a bit more modern. And if it doesn't look right to you yet, just give it a couple of weeks. Do not adjust your outfit; adjust your outlook instead.
• Jess wears blouse, £605, and skirt, £815, both by Preen, from Selfridges. Heels, £375, by Jimmy Choo.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Dani Richardson using Laura Mercier.