‘Grannycore’, the latest TikTok trend beloved of Gen Z, seems to be about a nostalgic aesthetic centred on the comforting style and hobbies of a ‘traditional’ grandmother. In real life, however, things could hardly be more different for us Boomer grannies. 

Yes, we cook and possibly do needlework if we feel like it. We might even knit. But if you’re expecting a storybook grandmother – a stooped, doughy figure with a wispy white bun held in place by kirby grips, clad in a twinset and pearls and wearing sensible shoes – then you’re definitely barking up the wrong tree.

As a Boomer granny born in 1956, my early life was profoundly influenced by the 1960s – when sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll first appeared on the scene. Even in the backwater that was Kirkcudbright in south-west Scotland, local girls were wearing miniskirts in freezing temperatures, exhibiting their frighteningly mottled legs (a phenomenon we hardly see any more, except, perhaps, at Aintree on Grand National day). We were all – even if we didn’t realise it – in the process of being liberated by this........

© The Spectator