H&M opened London Fashion Week for another season at Kensington Olympia, with a collection brimming with ruffles and sleek tailoring. The opening section of H&M Studio’s third collection saw models walking in near-darkness, lit only by the old-school paparazzi flashguns they carried. But aside from the show lights, which became accessories in their own right and the stellar model line-up (Lila Moss, Paloma Elsesser, Kristen McMenamy and Karen Elson among them), it was the array of period drama jackets that caught our eye.

You know the style, worn by Cavaliers, Napoleon Bonaparte and Mr Darcy, but adopted by a decidedly less historical cast of cool girls in the 2000s. Indeed, there is something distinctly Kate Moss circa 2007 about the military jacket’s latest incarnation. Think a fitted, slightly cropped silhouette, sharp shoulders and just enough historical flourish to make an otherwise simple outfit feel considerably more styled. Moss, of course, was particularly adept at this kind of fashion alchemy – taking something that looked as though it belonged in a costume department or charity shop bin and making it feel entirely at home with skinny jeans, ballet flats and a cigarette in hand.

Of course, the jacket’s resurrection itself is nothing particularly new. Shortly after last season’s shows, ’s Daniel Rodgers declared, “If you’re reading this… it’s too late. The military jacket trend that has been bubbling up through the work of emergent designers like Laura Andraschko and Ans Dotsloevner has now reached the peak of its cool.” Since then, fashion folk have invited the piece into their wardrobes via vintage shops and resale sites, but its presence on H&M’s runway is telling. What you might have once believed was a niche fashion acquisition has been picked up, reworked and made considerably easier to wear – and, crucially, buy.

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