Little black dress returns this season as red-hot fashion

Accessories keep basic black from looking like a cop-out.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
The little black dress is back, with a vengeance.
"Basic?" it cries. "You call me basic?"
Proving that it is anything but, it blanketed the bodies of women in a gazillion ways at the recent Gold Coast Fashion Award Show in Chicago, whose 50th anniversary theme, fittingly, was the little black dress. Not everyone wore one, but many who did showed what a colorful character the little black dress can be.
Crisscrossing itself with toggle laces, it added texture with leather and mesh puff pockets in a short version by designer Junya Watanabe.
"It's a little techno looking, don't you think?" said its wearer, Cynthia Chase. She wore it not with basic black pumps, but with ankle boots -- another trend for fall -- from Prada.
"I haven't worn a black dress for such a long time," Chase said, "and I didn't buy this because (the event) was about the little black dress, I just bought it because I loved it. I love that it's different."
Vivian Sikaras, who works in women's contemporary at Neiman Marcus, wore a Kulson velvet mini-skirted one, 2 years old, with a low-slung satin belt, accessorized with small-scale fishnet hose, Stuart Weitzman shoes, a gold lame bag and long strands of pearls from H & amp;M.
"I can wear it over jeans if I want to because of the length. I've changed the belt. I've worn it with white boots, and with pink stockings with big Prada black clogs."
Became too common
If it's so fabulously versatile, why did this standard fade away for several seasons in favor of blinding color?
"It became so ubiquitous that people shied away from it -- another LBD, like the Robert Palmer girls," said Clinton Kelly, co-host of TLC's "What Not to Wear."
So, for a successful resurrection, beware:
"Your black dress has got to look like a conscious choice, not a cop-out," Kelly advised. "The idea of that simple black sheath dress is not really so in. You want something that has a special feature, or, if you're going to pull one out of the closet, make the accessories special and a very conscious decision: 'Yeah, I'm wearing some psycho red shoes with my black dress!' "
Other non-pearls of wisdom:
UPush beyond the standard pearls. Try oversized black stones, maybe glossy, with ribbons interwoven or tied between each stone. "I was never one of these goth dudes," Kelly said. "But I love a black dress with black jewelry -- a little edge, but not a goth edge. You wouldn't do superheavy black eyeliner and dye your hair jet black."
USkip the black satin clutch. Reach for metallic bags. "Do a great silver bag and a silver shoe and real bling, like earrings." Or, if you go with a black bag, find one with studs or grommets -- "black with an edge."
UThink outside the black-shoe box. Black shoes are generally safe, but Kelly urges you out of that zone into afore-mentioned red shoes, for instance. "I love red and black together, then if you add a little cream, like a cream bag, it's chic all of a sudden. Together, (black and red) can be a little severe."
He would probably approve of award-show attendee Tanya Blomquist, who paired a form-fitting empire-waist MaxMara black stretch dress with a silver envelope clutch from Neiman Marcus and candy-apple satin pumps by Louis Vuitton. On a different day, she might wear the dress with a cashmere shawl and boots.
"It's an anytime, anywhere dress."