Some fashion clearly isn't designed to hang about for long: it's all about immediate impact. Look, if you dare, at the work of New Power Studio, who recently enlivened London Fashion Week with a hat that had burning incense sticks in the top of it and a PVC penis beret (the latter an intriguing successor to our old chum, the Walter Van Beirendonck papier-mâché penis cap, this time with the penis in question in a state of arousal and relocated from the forehead to the crown). Obviously, don't let me stop you rushing to avail yourself of either – for all I know, you may be reading this going, thank God, I've been looking to replace my worn-out papier-mâché penis cap with some fresh penis-related headgear – but I'm not sure it's a look that's going to ring down the ages.
At the other extreme is fashion with staying power, which seems to transcend trends. Which brings us to the Liberty print shirt. Floral prints are big this season, but they're a classic anyway. They sit somewhere between smart and casual; they're striking without venturing into PVC penis beret territory. And they key into a long artistic history: the first Liberty prints were designed in the 20s, but you can see in the fabric designs the influence of the store's past as a bastion first of aestheticism, then of the arts and crafts movement and art nouveau.
They aren't the only way of doing the current floral trend: one recent shoot featured a male model in what appeared to be lace-trimmed floral knickerbockers. Once again, if it's immediate impact you're after, don't let me stop you.
• Alexis wears shirt £170, by B Store for Liberty.
Jeans, £130, by Von Hundred at Urban Outfitters.
Shoes £40, by Mango.
Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Styling: Aradia Crockett. Grooming: Jen Fechter at Era Management.
