A funny thing is happening in the world of fashion, the accoutrements normally associated with older generations - fusty knits, horn-rimmed spectacles, hair combs with dried lilacs, sensible checked skirts, buttoned-up jackets, jewelled brooches - have been everywhere lately. From the resolutely classic Max Mara to the formerly vampish Gucci, granny chic is in.It is no coincidence that one of the most cited recent advertising campaigns, which depicts three grey-haired, snaggle-toothed nonnas toting ladylike handbags, was produced by an Italian brand: Dolce & Gabbana. Those grannies signify ''the respect and love the Mediterranean cultures harbour towards the older generation", says Domenico Dolce, who shot the campaign himself.Yes, granny chic is needed in a world where MAC cosmetics is producing lip gloss in a shade it creepily calls ''Underage".Treading in granny's footsteps also makes economic sense. Luxury brands, blighted with increasingly sluggish sales against a backdrop of the recession, a falling euro and a spending slowdown in China, are feeling the pressure. Harnessing mature shoppers could be the answer: in 2010, consumers aged 60 and up spent more than $8-trillion (over R99-trillion) worldwide, according to statistics compiled by the consulting firm AT Kearney.Based on the catwalk evidence, the starter kit for granny glamour have prim skirts that hit just below the knee, paired with oversized coats in sober camels, caramels and greys - extra points if there's a structured, ladylike handbag nestling in the crook of one arm. It moves on to the brooch-festooned moss-green and pale-pink suits and tweed coats worn with leather opera gloves. And culminates with a pair of spectacles, the aforementioned floral hair-comb, a cosy Harvest Festival flower-embroidered jumper and some sensible patent loafers, all ransacked from the Gucci catwalk, which itself looked like the parading of the fruits of a juicy attic sale. And if anyone questions your motives for dressing beyond your years rejoinder with the gnomic words of French theorist Roland Barthes : ''The contemporary is the untimely." In other words: start channelling a hypothetical octogenarian, pronto. ..