How to get the look: Paisley prints

This cocktail dress from McQ Alexander McQueen takes elements of 1970s wallpaper to new heights of chic with its flocked pattern

OK, I've got florals, hyperreal digital mash-ups and surreal trompe-l'oeil in my wardrobe. Where do I go now with prints?

Straight back to the Summer of Love. Paisley, yes paisley, is the pattern of the moment.

Yikes, how did that happen?

Blame Parisian designer Isabel Marant; her togs are a perennial fave with the hipper end of the celeb continuum, but her billowy paisley dresses and shirts have had broad-spectrum appeal, snapped on everyone from Maggie Gyllenhaal to Rosie H-W and Demi Lovato.

Accessorise with a massive whiff of sandalwood?

Mais non! Even if you're not wearing Marant, you need to channel her Left-Bank-chic-meets-global-traveller vibe. So keep it contemporary – either in terms of the style and shape of your paisley item. Go for simple, modern shapes and accessories, or clash up your prints.

But I hate that nicotine-y 1970s palette…

Look around: there's more than one type of paisley. Intermix's pretty navy-on-white floral paisley silk track-pants look more like lace (£129.86, intermixonline.com). And this cocktail dress from McQ Alexander McQueen (pictured above) takes elements of 1970s wallpaper to new heights of chic with its flocked pattern (£435, my-wardrobe.com).