Understated describes a style that is pleasing precisely because it is quiet — simple, without loud colours, big logos, heavy decoration, or anything shouting for attention. It is almost always a compliment. An understated dress, an understated grey suit, understated make-up, an understated hotel lobby, an understated performance by an actor who does very little and still makes you feel everything. The word carries a flavour of confidence and often of money: understated things are frequently expensive things that choose not to announce it, which is why you meet the fixed phrase 'understated elegance' so often in fashion and design writing. It is also used of behaviour and of writing — an understated speech does not push its emotion at you. Note that it is not the same as plain, cheap, or boring; understated implies a choice was made and taste was involved. There is a second, plainer use, straight from the verb: 'the understated risks in the report' means risks that were described as smaller than they were. Context tells you instantly which one is meant — style contexts give you the compliment, factual contexts give you the criticism.