Thorns and all: Here's how to embrace this season's punk rose aesthetic

Some of this season’s hottest looks are the sartorial embodiment of that old Shakespearean adage: a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. Gone are the staid and polite posies of the romantic bloom’s traditional appeal. This is not chintz and doilies, Valentine’s bouquets or scattered petals. No, this time, the rose is bursting through with rock star attitude, punk proportions and unapologetic patterns. This is the rose, thorns and all.

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Balmain teamed sheer, lacey floral slip dresses with leather body armour and fencing gear and Erdem fashioned entire dresses from white roses, worn with black leather brogues. To give your blooms that punk edge, the key is in your accessories. Temper a 1950s rose-dappled ball gown, like Marni’s delicious sky-blue example, with flat patent black leather boots from Alexander McQueen and dominatrix red latex gloves from Demask.

Footwear can help switch up the most delicate of looks. Take the ethereal nature of Bach Mai’s full-skirted red chiffon dress. It has all the appeal of a debutante’s demure coming-out dress, but pair it with Marc Jacob’s perilously high punk platform heels, and that delicate rose just got a nose piercing.

Subverting expectations is key to unlocking punk rose. The traditional blue and yellow floral print of Balenciaga’s wrapped dress could easily be a simple iteration of the trend, but when paired with matching over the knee boots, it becomes a rock-star look.

Equally, don’t eschew black when approaching florals. It can make just as much of an impact, as shown by Loewe’s black, off-the-shoulder draped dress, a gothic marvel adorned with stunning metal rose detail, or Maison Margiela’s strapless dress with voluminous rose corsage.

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These surprising choices are also about contrasting your fabrics. Louis Vuitton’s candy-pink sheer slip dress is as beautifully insubstantial as a rose petal strewn in a sumptuous hot bath, but draped over the brand’s chunky patterned knit and it’s a lesson in sartorial irreverence.

The rose this season is not just punk by dent of its inspired styling, the rose is also a spotlight stealer when it comes to big, bold dimensions. Valentino sent punchy pink applique roses down the catwalk at the AW22 shows and Off White created huge rose-red silhouettes with leaf designs floating across them. Take Alexander McQueen’s tangerine faille dress with ruffled neckline: a mountain of fabric, unapologetically taking up space.

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Experiment with headpieces and brooches with rose designs by Paper Cut Projects and let vertiginous heels pump up the volume. Try skyscraper platforms by Valentino – in rose pink of course.

Bold dimensions are also about embodying the rose itself. Rose shapes were blooming on the runway this season, like Marc Jacobs' oversized, draped pale-pink pieces, frothy, tulle volume at Cecile Bahnsen, Max Mara’s tulip skirts and sexy rose buds at Versace, made from neat corseted petals and latex stems.

You can make your entire silhouette a petal shape, like Proenza Schouler’s sculpted boucle knit dress, or take inspiration from ThreeasFour’s lilac ribbon dress and hood - a creative marvel echoing the stem, stamen and rippled petals of a flower.

Go big or go home in Marc Jacobs’ mint green knitted ensemble. Layer the turtleneck sweater with a wool knit wrap and dress to recreate the folded undulations of a rose.