The LOOK: Hot Reds for the Holidays

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Thursday, December 09, 2010

Frank Barbosa, GoLocalProv Style Expert

He was the lead hair stylist on Sex and the City 2, he made Anne Hathaway fabulous on film, and now he's GoLocalProv's weekly style expert. Frank Barbosa, the Newport-based celebrity stylist, brings red carpet perspective to hair, makeup, and overall style.

I've been getting all kinds of red requests this holiday season, so let's talk about it.

When choosing to go red, you have to be in a red frame of mind and then search for the red for you. This isn't as hard as it sounds. Here's what you need to do:

1. Start with some research. Go through your favorite magazines or Web sites and pick some pictures of some looks you love.

2. Don't necessarily play it safe. Most fashionistas wanting to go red make this mistake. The safe choice might appear to go to a darker wine or a burgundy red, which we think reads closer to brown. The fact is there's no such color, so it always reads wrong. No skin tone reads good against a fake purple toned red (unless you are in a musical, band, or some kind of act that calls for the tone... not you? Stay away from the dark side!).

3. Use bright undertones. Most real redheads (think Nicole Kidman, Juliana Moore, Deborah Messing) have orange or gold undertones. Don't be afraid to be bright!

4. If you're shy to go that bright, I suggest low- or highlighting those bright reds into your own color.

5. Maintain wisely. Remember: red fades the quickest of all the shades, so a good color-retaining shampoo and conditioner is essential.

From Sex and the City 2 to Rachel Getting Married, from The Sorcerer's Apprentice to Bride Wars, Frank Barbosa has styled some of the biggest celebrities in film, TV, and theater. He's been in the industry for 17 years, moving from hip neighborhoods in Chicago, to Boston's Newbury St, to Bellevue Avenue in Newport. He maintains that his real passion, though, is being behind a salon chair.