Grandpa-core! Yes, dressing like a retiree is now sexy

For the cool, young crowd in the capital, it's suddenly all about bringing out your inner pensioner

- Joe Bromley

A Nunlikely Tuesday evening sight near the Barbican: almost 100 people spilling out of the mighty St Bartholomew the Great church looking like octogenarians.

After an off-season fashion show, men and women alike stepped into the bitter cold wearing uniforms of ancient-looking tweed jackets, pinstripe blazers, dusty tailored dress coats, compost-shade scratchy scarves, navy pea coats and thick-ribbed, forest-green cords. It wasn't until they pulled shawls from their heads inside the neighbouring Rising Sun pub that it became clear the crowd was actually aged 18 to 80.

Why? Because everyone cool in London today is either an actual grandpa - or dresses like one.

Moments before, the runway in question, designed by 2016 Central Saint Martins graduate John Alexander Skelton, proved as much. His models - a cross-generational mix, from chiselled fashion students to the veteran Portobello Market salesman, Herbie Mensah marched with candle holders in historic-looking clothes which, at times, were quintessentially grandpa.