Red Dilemma

I first became aware of "Nantucket Reds" when I read The Official Preppy Handbook 30 years ago. At the time I had lived a fairly sheltered life in middle-class suburbia, had not done much traveling, and definitely had not yet developed anything resembling a personal style. I never had occasion to encounter the sort of old-money folks who were the ones wearing Reds at the time. Even setting aside their class associations, I definitely could not see myself wearing them.

In fact, I've never owned any red pants; the closest I ever got was a pair of rust-colored Levi's cords that I wore in high school. [Hm... brain disagrees, has unearthed memory of buying vivid red wide-wale cords at Filene's Basement in college as "joke pants."] I enjoy wearing red, and have my share of red shirts, sweaters, and outerwear, but I've never been able to cross the line to wear red pants, shorts, or shoes—until this year.

I've been circling around the idea of getting red shorts for a couple of years, and I got drawn in by Lands' End, who for at least the past couple of years has offered chinos and shorts in "vintage brick." I still can't see myself wearing red pants, but at least with shorts there isn't as much surface area. And Lands' End has become a go-to for me for shorts because they offer an 11" inseam, which I prefer. So for $20 I had myself a pair of red(dish) shorts.

After I got them, I realized something I hadn't even considered: because of their color, they are a lot trickier to coordinate with than my other clothes. Most people would just choose a white or navy polo, or maybe a light blue oxford shirt, but I don't own any of those things. (I do have a blue end-on-end shirt, but it's long-sleeved.) Most of my summer shirts are plaids or seersucker stripes, or polos in bright solids, and none of it went with the red shorts. I did eventually figure out that my blue striped seersucker shirt or my cream-colored polo would work.

I ran into a similar situation with those red SeaVees sneakers. They are a much darker red, almost maroon, but they're definitely not what one would consider a neutral shade, as most shoes tend to be, and I was still somewhat self-conscious about what I was wearing with them. After a bit of trial and error, I decided that keeping the rest of my outfit as close to neutral as possible, and staying away from anything else with red in it, were the best guidelines I could follow. It is summer, after all, when there's a bit more room for creativity and boldness in dress.