maroon

Versace held a cocktail reception in NYC last night and among the fashionable stars to attend was Alexa Chung, who showed up in a head-to-toe maroon look. Monochrome outfits can seem hard to pull off, but as exemplified by Alexa, they can turn out to be totally chic when done right. The socialite tucked a maroon turtleneck into a maroon zip-front leather skirt and carried a matching circle bag. She then added a bit of contrasting color via black cutout flats and a black coat. If you dare to walk in Alexa's fashion-forward shoes, shop similar pieces below to get her latest look.

In my slideshow of the top 10 worst decorating mistakes, I covered design failures that are simply inexcusable — no ifs, ands, or buts. But seeing as decorating is all about taste, it's a very subjective field. There are plenty of design choices that I certainly wouldn't recommend or that even make me cringe, but at the same time I wouldn't call them mistakes. It's sort of a "to each his own" kind of thing.
For instance, I think the color maroon is absolutely foul, regardless of how it is used — but a color really can't be wrong. I also would never, ever put fake flowers in my house, although I will admit I have seen some that could pass for pretty. What are your design pet peeves? Do you hate stripes? Are you anti all-white rooms? Tell me by commenting below!