There is a scene in The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (by the great Alexandre Dumas) where Louis XIV remarks on the good taste of Louise de la Vallière – among the gaudily dressed nobility of the province, she is the only person with the good sense to wear a simple white dress. Even the king is impressed.

Nothing has changed in 300+ years: a well-proportioned, well-cut white dress is still one of the most elegant things you can wear. This dress by Aldo Järvsoo – who happens to make the most elegant (did I say elegant, again?) dresses in Estonia – is a case in point. Add a pair of classic heels and an up-do and no king could find fault with your taste.

There is a flip-side to it, though. As with many relentlessly tasteful things, white can be intimidating. It’s also practically challenging: every stain and crease shows and you must take extreme care with your underwear. You might end up looking too much like a bride and/or too high-maintenance. So unless you are a high-maintenance bride and proud of it, you might want to loosen things up a bit.

It’s not rocket science, of course: when the dress itself makes such a statement of icy perfection, the rest needs to send a different message. The easiest solution is to keep your make-up to the absolute minimum and your hair artfully messy. But I was afraid that my features would get totally lost on the photos if I did that, so I turned to my other favourite dressing-down trick: unexpected footwear. These Zara flatforms make the whole ensemble less serious (some people would say “more ugly”) and the thought of spilling things on yourself somehow easier to bear. Who cares about the creases, when you weren’t trying that hard anyway, right?

Flat shoes are especially effective in making you look less formal because they also change the way you walk and stand. But it could be anything, really – playful jewellery, a colourful visor or strange sunglasses (see exhibit B). That said, I’m also going to wear this dress to the opera with pretty hair and those classic shoes I mentioned earlier. And spend the night worrying about the creases.

Photos by Marina Rusakova