Power Couple--Red and Black

In several "how-to" fashion books I have read recently, the experts warn against older women wearing red and black. Stacy London, from the TNT show What Not to Wear, warns that it evokes images of Raisa Gorbachev; Sherrie Mathieson, in her style book Forever Cool, is even harsher. She doesn't like any combinations of primary colors and black; for her, red and black are a particularly bad fashion cliche.

However, a New York Times Magazine feature on the power journalist, Eleanor Clift, shows just how powerful--and hip--this combination can be. Why ban colors from your wardrobe, especially ones that bring attention to you and what you have to say.