Reviving ‘granny labels’ is really getting old
Iwill never pretend to understand the topsy-turvy world of fashion, but I’m surely not alone in scratching my head over the renaissance of the St Michael label.
I can see it’s a response to the vintage boom enjoyed by brands as diverse as old-skool Dorothy Perkins, last-century Next and covetable “blue label” New Look from the 1990s. (Yes, apparently that’s a thing.)
Old-look M&S clobber may be an ebay winner with the cool crowd – but resurrecting its dated label, which was put out to pasture in 2000, is the ultimate in try-too-hard naffness. And that is the ultimate turn off for consumers, whatever their demographic.
What makes the growth of “granny style” so extraordinary is that young people wouldn’t be caught dead setting foot in any of these actual stores, far less wearing the latest cheugy lines.
Generation Z loves the retro Y2K look, despite not even being born at the millennium. Or maybe because of it.
Either way, they scour charity shops for “treasures” from long-forgotten high street chains: Bay, Pilot, Jane Norman and Miss Sixty are names guaranteed to elicit a swoon from any self-respecting teenager.
The fun of 21st-century fashion is in the thrill of the chase, whether that’s hunting down rare garments on Depop or rifling through the dressing-up box at your gran’s.
It’s about ingenuity and originality, putting together outfits with a twist, garnering praise for your creativity.
Emphasis on sustainability adds an environmental dimension to remodelling and upcycling old clothes. A brand new sweater with an old label is, therefore, inauthentic, bogus, and – I quote directly from my in-house 19-year-old hipster here – “completely cringe”.
So far, M&S has just two garments bearing the St Michael legend. Nice try, but my advice would be to leave it at that, call it a homage and just watch it fly off the shelves and change hands for vast sums. In 2051.