Do you prefer to create a high or a low contrast between the colours in your outfit?

I am 100% Team High Colour Contrast. There has to be a high colour contrast in my outfit in order for it to feel like me. I can achieve the contrast with accessories, clothing and footwear. When I wear black from head to toe, I’ll wear white pearls or a bright scarf to soften the harshness of the black against my face, and to create a strong contrast against it. When I create low contrast on top, like a red top with a red jacket, I’ll pair high contrast shoes, specs, belt or handbag with the outfit. My cream coats and jackets are low contrast against my blonde hair and pale skin, but wearing a black top underneath these items instantly creates the contrast. The black buttons on my cream jackets and coats also create strong visual contrast.

Another way I introduce contrast is with bright clashing colour combinations, like red with yellow, turquoise with red, fuschia with white, and purple with green.

When I do wear a low contrast outfit like ink blue with black, it’s always with white or cream in order to add back in the element of high colour contrast.

Team Low Colour Contrast prefers to wear a monochromatic ensemble and colours in the same colour family. For example, a black dress worn with a gunmetal grey necklace, pewter shoes and eggplant handbag is a low colour contrasting outfit. Wearing a white dress with pastel pink cardigan, silver sandals and white handbag is another example.

Swap out the pastel pink for fushia and throw in black shoes and belt, and you’re back on Team High Colour Contrast.

Note that contrasts can be created with both neutral and non-neutral colours. This is not a brights versus neutrals distinction at all.

It’s interesting to observe this style distinction between my clientele because there are clearly two camps. Importantly, there is absolutely no right and wrong here. The one you prefer depends entirely on your aesthetic preferences. And perhaps you like to switch between high and low contrast depending on your mood.

Over to you. Are you Team High or Team Low Colour Contrast? Although I’d prefer you to pick a side, I’ll allow batting for both Teams because it’s the last week of the year. But if you do pick both, then let us know what makes you decide between high and low contrast for any particular outfit.

It’s Christmas Eve and in the Cox Castle the festivities are in full swing. This year my precious Papa flew in from the Netherlands to spend the Holidays with us. Papa doesn’t visit Seattle that often, so it’s extra special when he’s here. To mark the occasion we all went to Alki Beach (a 15 minute drive from downtown Seattle) to walk the girls and take family pictures.

To brighten up a very grey Seattle day, I went to town with red in this ensemble. I matched wardrobe staple, Gap legging jeans with a red animal print cowl neck pullover and black patent belt. I layered over that a short red double breasted coat and finished off the look with a dramatic pair of white, 20 eyelet Dr. Marten boots. I must have been subconsciously inspired by a candy cane when pulling together this outfit. Oh well! I felt fab even though I don’t like candy canes.

Big surprise: Yorkies Rosie and Jasmine are also on Team Red. They wore red T-shirts and collars underneath their red jumpers. They finished off their look with yellow harnesses and brand new black and silver leads. Such well behaved, polished little princesses.

My Dad does actually wear red, but opted for earth tones and blue that day. He wore easy fit jeans  and a chunky brown sweater over a checked shirt. He topped off with a cinnamon coloured suede coat, plaid cashmere scarf and an ink blue hat. Pretty spiff for an almost 80 year old, don’t you think?

Hubby Greg bats for Team Black. He wore distressed brown skinny jeans with a black sweater and denim jacket. He threw over his big black coat and slipped into short black Dr. Marten boots. Even though Greg does not wear red, I can’t complain. He always looks fabulous and I adore his urban style.

Team Red and Team Black will spend most of today in the kitchen prepping festive food for the Holiday weekend. Can’t wait! We at YLF wish our family, friends and readership a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

This below is a photo of Jasmine, also known as Big Ears. She’s had a hard time recently with congestive heart failure, but is having some good days now and we’re grateful that she is here to enjoy Christmas Eve.

Well, we’ve talked about Christmas sweaters before, but this year things are different. According to the Wall Street Journal, the item is actually “enjoying a moment of irony-infused popularity”.

Apparently many individuals and organizations are having holiday parties where the Christmas sweaters are part of the theme. Large companies like Dunkin’ Donuts are even creating humorous promotions around the Christmas sweater.

It’s not all anecdotal. There are hard numbers to back up the item’s surge in popularity:

Searches for “ugly Christmas sweaters” are up 30% in December compared with December last year, according to Google’s research tool Insights for Search. It’s “one of the most-searched-for terms among people looking for information about sweaters,” a Google spokeswoman says.

Is this something you have noticed this Christmas season? And will you be wearing one? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to post pictures in the forum.

This is a trick that I learnt while on a Museum hop in Amsterdam. On my way into the museum, the staff at the coat check pushed a portion of the scarf into the inside armhole of my coat for safe keeping before they hung it up. That way I was much less likely to lose my scarf or leave it behind at the museum. So simple, yet so effective!

It is an especially good trick for blokes, who usually take off their coats and scarves when indoors, but still out and about, like at a restaurant or the cinema.

Outside our home I rarely remove my scarf when I’m indoors because I’m normally wearing one that is integral to my outfit. But sometimes I do and no doubt this trick has saved us from parting ways more than once.

Do you use this trick? I have only seen it employed in Europe, but I imagine people in the United States use it too. Still, it isn’t very common in my experience so I thought I’d spread the word.