'A type of print that we are used to seeing over a few square inches of men's business attire is suddenly head-to-toe on the ladies'
I have a theory about the current fad for geometric prints. I blame men. It is modish to attribute this season's vogue for eye-popping geometric repeats to a 1960s trend, but I am not convinced. Retro references are the easy reach when decoding new clothes, but fashion has become too restless for decade revivalism to get a grip on us.
Instead, I would trace this outfit to the traditional menswear prints of the tie and the pocket square. What I'm wearing is more or less a supersized handkerchief. What makes these prints so arresting – they were pegged as a catwalk-look-that-won't-catch-on, but have been a surprise hit on the high street this season – is that they are out of context and blown out of scale. A type of print that we are used to seeing over a few square inches of men's business attire is suddenly head-to-toe on the ladies.
You see? Men. The undertow of fashion right now is from girliness to androgyny. The surface ripples flow this way and that, but for the past few years that has been the direction of travel. You might not notice it when you're out shopping – your head turned by a sequinned sweater or skater skirt – but my bet is that at the end of each recent season, your wardrobe has had more trousers and fewer dresses, more straight edges and fewer frills, than it did at the start.
The pocket-square print has a pleasingly old-fashioned, bluestocking quality to it. Think of it as a modern alternative to the classic spriggy Liberty floral shirt. Like those beautiful, tiny-scale Liberty flowers, the mini squares and hexagons of the pocket-square prints are comfortingly familiar, a part of our visual heritage we almost take for granted.
Of course, you don't want anyone taking you for granted, so you need to wear the geometric print in a decidedly modern way. It is in this spirit that I am, as you can see, braving not one but two geometric prints at the same time. This certainly has impact, although it could hardly pass as easy on the eye, and is probably best avoided in the company of those prone to migraines. Although if anyone complains, you know who to blame.
• Jess wears shirt, £475, by Miu Miu, from net-a-porter.com. Trousers, £39.99, and heels, £39.99, both from Zara.
Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Dani Richardson at danirichardson.co.ukusing Giorgio Armani Cosmetics and Skincare.