The following is a true story: a woman wore a brand new, bright red cocktail dress to a friend's book launch party. Her husband and nanny complimented her on her way out of the house, and she arrived at the event feeling confident and pretty. It was only when the author greeted her with a tight smile and the words, “That's right, you like red,” that the woman realised her mistake. Now, she cringes when she recalls the evening and that thunder-stealing dress. “It was as if I had worn white lace to a wedding,” she says.

Of all the colours in the rainbow, red might well be the hardest to wear. For starters, it's easy to come across looking like a candidate on the campaign trail or as if you've been trapped inside a bad Scottish postcard. And then there's the long, not exactly positive, history of women in red, from Hester Prynne and her Scarlet Letter to Scarlett O'Hara in red at Ashley Wilkes' birthday party.

And yet, red can also be notably chic and festive, as demonstrated on runways everywhere, and in the December issue of British Vogue, which has 12 pages devoted to the story “Red Alert”. There is red at Michael Kors (a Crayola-toned jersey dress in this season's favourite silhouette, the one shoulder), and at Akris, in the form of a carmine-coloured ensemble featuring wool trapezoid embroidery on silk tulle. The New York-based designer Chocheng offers a range of cardinal hunting jackets; Miuccia Prada a deep-V mini dress in velvet brocade, a cherry leather raincoat and a pair of lustworthy platform shoe booties (to name just a few items); Alexandre Herchcovitch provides two mismatched red prints in one dress; and Escada, which never goes a season without offering something in its trademark blue-red, a perfectly-tailored jacket and cropped pants combo that could go easily from day to night and season to season.