Is there a historical cutoff point where clothes cease to be "retro" (with all the cool connotations of witty postmodernity that phrase entails) and turn into dressing up like someone from the past, complete with a load of naff Sealed Knot, out-of-work-actor-parading-around-a-museum-in-a-codpiece-saying-"Prithee, young sir"-to-gangs-of-scary-schoolchildren baggage? If so, it probably lurks in the early 20th century: fashion from the 20s onwards still exerts an influence on how we look today; anything from before that counts as fancy dress.
It's a question that's played on my mind ever since I discovered the traditional footwear makers William Lennon, a Derbyshire family firm that has been in business since 1899. Some of the stuff they make is so determinedly, dementedly of the past that you wonder if anyone actually buys it. Are there really any takers for hobnailed shepherd's boots, fully sprung for added comfort as you pursue a flock over a fell? Can Lennon's craftsmen keep up with demand for the range (yes, "range" as in more than one design) of tug-of-war boots? But despite the fact that it's a perfect replica of something designed almost 100 years ago, Lennon's World War 1 B5 boot feels nothing like a historical artefact. Not only is it a thing of huge aesthetic loveliness (not a phrase readily associated with the trenches), it's also, to use a ghastly phrase, surprisingly on-trend, given the current vogue for big boots: something from the era before retro that doesn't belong in the dressing-up box.
• Alexis wears World War 1 B5 boots, £143.95, by William Lennon. All other clothes, Alexis's own. Photograph: David Newby.