The 87-year-olds who wear Doc Martens and mini-skirts

The fashion world might be obsessed with youth but it seems no one has told 75-year-old Jean Woods, who has a trendy Hoxton haircut and loves DMs.
Or Daphne Selfe, who, at 85, is the world's oldest model - and one of the most stylish, with a wardrobe cool enough to leave the likes of Cara Delevingne looking on in envy.
Or Gillian Lynne, who says she will wear mini-skirts at 87 if she wants, adding that her legs are her 'best asset'.


And they are not alone, as new Channel 4 documentary, Fabulous Fashionistas, reveals. The film follows six spectacularly well-dressed pensioners - none of whom is letting age get in the way of looking stylish.

Glamorous granny: Jean Woods, 75, reinvented herself as a fashionista after being widowed at 70

Rock n' roll gran: Jean Woods, who lives in Bath, says she had always been passionate about fashion

Teenage kicks: Jean says her style inspiration comes from local youngsters - hence her love of DM boots

Fashion rebel: Jean says that she wears whatever she fancies and has no intention of toning things down

One of the most adventurous is Sue Kreitzman, 73, who has turned dressing into an art form - quite literally.
An artist by trade, she frequently designs her own clothes, which she describes as a release 'from the tyranny of fashion'.

 

With her bold red frames, chunky bangles and penchant for black, she bears a striking resemblance to the fashion world's grandmother-in-chief, Rosita Missoni, another 70-something still making her mark on the fashion world.
Then there's Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington, 91, a Conservative peer who has made a point of refusing to go quietly into the fashion night and can regularly be spotted intently, but stylishly, listening to debates from the comfort of the Lords' iconic red benches.
'She snuck in under the wire but I couldn’t resist because she is such a character,' says Sue Bourne, the director behind the documentary.
'She is terrifically well put-together and she  shops from catalogues. Actually she has a bit of an addiction to them.'

Advanced style: Bridget Sojourner, 75, (left) gets her clothes in charity shops while Daphne Selfe, 85, is a model

 

Fabulous Fashionistas. Meet women in their 80s redefining fashion

Fashionable: Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington is 91 and stylish while Sue Kreitzman, 73 is a fashion rebel

Fabulous: (Left to right) Sue Kreitzman, Daphne Selfe and Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington

Age-defying: Gillian Lynne, 87, started working life as a dancer in the 1940s

For Bridget Sojourner, 75, it is not catalogues but charity shops that fuel her passion for fashion.
Despite subsisting on a pension of just £100 a week, she cuts a striking figure in her crimson turban and chunky jewels.
On her shopping list are flowing dresses vibrant scarlet and black, which she combines with eye-catching costume jewellery, uber-glamorous hats and her most recent purchase, a £4 pair of Doc Marten boots.
'Style, as one gets older, is more noticeable,' she explains. 'How I look is to do with my identity and the fun of it. It’s nothing to do with looking younger.'
It might not be about looking younger, but you'd never know it when looking at Gillian Lynne, 87.
A former ballerina, Lynne, who looks at least 20 years younger than she really is, exercises every day and still wears both mini-skirts and leggings.
'You just mustn’t allow the ageing process in,' she reveals.
Her other secret for eternal youth is that she is married to a man 27 years younger than her.
'My friends thought it was positively indecent when we started to see each other, but since we are still together now, how silly they look now!'
Her main gripe with women 'giving up' at a certain age is that they let their posture go.
'You see them hunched over, looking downward. Everything seems to sag. They look dejected. My training as a dancer always taught me that you stand up straight and get those shoulders back.
'To be crude about it, the nipples should lead – and how can they do that if they are pointing down towards the floor somewhere.'

Looking good: Jean Woods, Gillian Lynne and Bridget Sojourner show how to pose like you mean it

She has no issues about wearing short skirts. Even minis are OK. 'I know people probably look at the face and go "oh dear" but my legs have always been my best asset. Why should I stop showing them off.'
It's a philosophy with which Woods can identify, although she admits that after a knee operation, mini-skirts are not for her anymore.
'Oh no. I don’t really go above the knee with a skirt. Once you do that, at my age, you have to start thinking about the scars from my knee replacement op.'
Resplendent in her favourite scarlet T-shirt and grey-checked skirt, she's got hair that owes more than a little to Mary Quant - and the attitude to match.
Widowed at 70, she filled the hole left by her husband with a job at Gap before taking herself - and her considerable styling skills - off to work at a boutique in Bath.
'I'm leading a different life,' adds Woods, who also runs three times a week, despite having had her knee replaced. 'It's more adventurous.'