How to dress: punk

Wearable punk? That's an oxymoron, surely. Like slow skydiving. The point of punk is that it is awkward and uneasy and challenging: everything wearable clothes aren't.

Except: says who? I mean, the punk police can't exactly tell us off for breaking the rules, can they? Where's the punk spirit in that? There's nothing punk about laying down all kinds of mimsy rules about whether you can wear ripped jeans before noon, or tartan after Whit Sunday.

So, counterintuitive as it might be to view punk as an aesthetic from which you can cherrypick baubles to prettify your wardrobe, that's exactly what I'm suggesting we do. The Punk exhibition at the Met in New York is full of examples of the tropes punk incorporated into the mainstream – including, of course, Liz Hurley's Versace safety-pin dress. True, the mohican is always going to be a hard look to pull off IRL – unless you are Sarah Jessica Parker at the Met Ball, but that's not IRL, is it? – but tartan, rips, graffiti daubs, leather and the aggressive traffic light/bumblebee colour combinations that characterise punk all lend themselves to a lo-cal version. The high street has been doing this for years. You haven't been able to move in River Island for bags with studs on since about 2004.

But, thanks to the Met show, studs are just the jumping-off point this season. Punk's influence is everywhere: string-vest mesh and ripped jeans; paint-splash prints and artful rips; zips and leather and – of course – studs and safety pins. The trick is to edit the punk elements into something chic, and modernise them into something that feels relevant. A head-to-toe Seditionaries homage will alarm the squares, and look predictable and museum-piece retro to the hipsters, which is a lose-lose. Temper the aggressive spirit of a punk piece with items that project control and calm. (This is why a blazer over a ripped or gaudy T-shirt, while an overdone style meme, still works: there is a sense of fun and spirit, but the brakes are on.) Most of all, wear it your own way: as long as you stay true to that, the punk police won't have a ripped-denim leg to stand on.

Jess wears jumper, £189, richardnicholl.com. Leather trousers, £968, by Each X Other, from net-a-porter.com. Heels, £695, jimmychoo.com. Vest and watch, both Jess's own.

Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Tonee Roberio using Mac Cosmetics.