When asked if I like floral patterns, my first instinct is to say no. The reality is, as is often the case, a bit more nuanced. I do like florals, I just don’t like the boring ones, especially of the dainty variety. But as soon as the prints start to resemble an old divan or turn dark and sinister or just generally a bit crazy, I’m all for it.

There are a few designers who create flowers that I approve of: Erdem is one of them – look at this excellent piece of old furniture dressing or this abstract cape. Perfect. The Valentino duo does wonderful modern fairytale florals and Gucci has succeeded this season with romantic ones that I would have no problem wearing whatsoever. For more geometric patterns, Marni is one of the greatest, while Christopher Kane can be trusted to come up with something innovative. This dress of his doesn’t really feature a proper floral print, it uses lace, but I’m including it anyway – to me, it was one of the absolute highlights of 2016 resort shows.

If you are in need of a floral dress (or anything patterned) in Estonia, your first – and possibly last – port of call should be Liisi Eesmaa. Her prints are creative and striking, but wearable and beautiful – when she does florals, they suddenly become cool, something not usually associated with this genre. In her latest Hüperborea (Hyperborea) collection she featured a floral/dragonfly pattern in several colourways (light blue is pictured here), all equally stunning. I have seen them in person and they look even better in real life than they do on screen.

The styling on these photos is a bit too boring to do the dress justice: in an ideal world, I’d go with a bare face and either a graphic blue eye or a bright vinyl lip. And sharper hair. If it turns out that I cannot carry this off, I’ve got another solution in mind – I have ordered a bomber jacket in the same pattern and I believe it will look unexpected but fabulous paired with the dress.

Photos Marina Rusakova