Dig out your off-the-shoulder peasant blouse: boho chic is back

Photograph: David Newby/The Guardian. Styling: Melanie Wilkinson

Boho chic, the summer uniform of the early 2000s, is back. Hello again, off-the-shoulder blouses and ruffled skirts. Straw baskets, vintage slip dresses and artisanal quilted jackets: we missed you.

Boho chic is fashion’s favourite guilty pleasure. Summer rolls around, and women who have spent the year to date in crisp shirting and understated neutral tailoring go weak at the knees at the first hint of an embroidered blouse with pom poms on the drawstring. You only have to say the word “festival” to a British woman and she’ll be head to toe in paisley with a faded denim waistcoat, an armful of bead bracelets and a starsign necklace. The first jangle of a coin belt is like the first notes of the ice-cream van song: a nostalgia trip into half-remembered, hazy summers of the past.

Boho fashion speaks to our alter ego – the bohemian, rule-breaking free spirit that lives in most of us

But this summer, you don’t even have to pretend to be too cool to partake, because boho is officially in vogue again. There are capes and layered necklaces at Chloé, as seen at Paris fashion week. There are ruffles and lace in Sienna Miller’s M&S collection. On the 10th anniversary of Kate Moss’s peak Glastonbury years, boho is staging a full-scale fashion revival.

I’m guessing that our collective soft spot for boho fashion is to do with the fact that it speaks to an alter ego that lives within most of us. There is a bohemian, rule-breaking, live-for-today free spirit somewhere inside everyone, even if the nearest you get to showing it these days is putting a plate in the dishwasher without rinsing it. Still, that alternative self is there, tucked away like an old photo in your wallet.

And then summer comes along, and fresh air and sunlight blast through our open windows and our inhibitions and we embrace that inner flower child, if only until the clock strikes back-to-school.

Boho clothes give us licence to live out that alter ego. One of the things that fashion can do is surface aspects of ourselves that aren’t otherwise being seen. So, for instance, you might use clothes to surface the boss side of yourself if you feel like you’re not being taken seriously in the office. But you can also use a ric-rac trimmed, off-the-shoulder peasant blouse, distressed white jeans and a 70s platform sandal to surface your inner free spirit.

And yes, there is indeed a degree of irony in proclaiming your independent, artistic, bohemian nature via an off-the-peg fashion trend, but hey, don’t blame me, blame late-stage capitalism for bankrupting our souls in the pursuit of maximising profits.

I digress. The point is, how do we indulge a weakness for boho without looking too cheesy? First, keep it modern. Patchwork is nice, flares are great, but not together, or you are in 70s fancy dress. Second, have one plain element in your outfit: a simple hoodie over a ruffled dress, or a white T-shirt with a paisley skirt. Otherwise it starts to get a little frantic, visually speaking, rather than laid back. Keep the colour palette to a quiet hum – muted, earthy tones work well, or you can lean into black-and-white movie romance with a monochrome palette. (Try a white broderie anglaise blouse with a black leather jacket.) For the same reason, if you’re wearing crochet, don’t add fringing, and if you’ve got macrame, you don’t need feathers: one fuzzy texture is enough or you may resemble a sofa that has burst its stuffing.

Denim is an underrated element of this look. Faded blue jeans are a bridge between boho and everyday. Useful, also, for cooler days, when you want the airiness of boho without the flimsiness. Ground the whimsy with one heavyweight piece: a leather jacket is a good foil to a tinkerbell-weight dress.

There are no rules. We are free spirits, remember?

Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Hair by Sam McKnight and Victoria Beckham beauty. Styling assistants: Sam Deaman and Nyima Jobe Model: Kitty Su at Milk. Dress, £159, The White Company. Hat, £176, Helen Kaminski. Sandals, £335, Ancient Greek Sandals