Cool Britannia is dead. Long live Ye Olde Englande. The land of fuddy duddy florals, lavender scent and leather-and-walnut is softening its stiff upper lip and speeding into the twenty-first century as the coolest place on the planet.
From frocks to cars, trench coats to teacups, and perfume to pens, the best of British is back. Heritage is hip and Margot Leadbetter checks and prints, Midlands-made motors and pukka bone china are the new black.
Sales at Laura Ashley are up almost 20 per cent and the company is making money for the first time in four years. Daks, which was forced to sell its flagship Art Deco Piccadilly store two years ago, returned to Bond Street last week.
London's Mayfair now boasts a revamped Aquascutum, Burberry, Alfred Dunhill, Austin Reed and the first bespoke Connolly leather-goods store. Savile Row has cast off its Little Lord Fauntleroy image with designers like Richard James and Oswald Boateng re-creating le style anglais .
But it is not just clothes. Ten years ago the wheels had all but fallen off Britain's motor industry. Now some of England's best-loved motoring icons are revving their engines once more. No sooner had the last 1950s bone-shaker Mini rolled off the production line at Longbridge last week than the beefed-up luxury 'new Mini' was unveiled at the Birmingham Motorshow.
In the 1960s the Inspector Morse Jaguar Mk II and E-type were the only ways to travel, but in the 1970s strikes nearly killed the cat. Now it's back. The Coventry-based company has achieved record sales this year, up a huge 80 per cent on last year following the launch of the S-Type.
Americans are buying more Rolls-Royce cars and the number is set to increase when the company opens a new factory in Sussex. Bentley, the bulldog British motor, is back with some of the most stylish coupes and convertibles to have GB bolted on the boot. Sales are up 30 per cent.
Morgan and Jensen are turning heads with stunning new two-seaters, the companies' first for a generation. Even James Bond is back where he belongs - behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Vanquish in his next movie.
Once written off as too sandalwood stuffy for the sporty CK one generation, even Britain's tiny perfumiers are fragrant again. The smell of money at Jermyn Street's Floris and Creed has never been stronger.
Smythson, the stiffest of stiff-card Bond Street stationers, is inviting in more customers than ever. Ali G creator Sacha Baron-Cohen uses their pens. Even pukka crockery maker Wedgwood is hot. Their new 'black and white' range is coming to a wedding list near you.
Twenty years ago Burberry was for American tourists, Jaguar for second-hand car dealers and only your grandad wore Daks - the name itself is a mix of 'Dad' and 'Slacks'. Now anyone who is anyone, from Liam Gallagher to Prince William, is donning the beige check, paying the deposit for the F-type and slipping into Daks pumps.
What has transformed the land of Marks & Spencer pants, rosewater, kippers and kidneys into the epicentre of elegance? Smart continentals and Japanese started it when they began buying up 'Made in Britain' brands. Now a new generation of British designers is copying them copying us and giving the classics a witty, youthful twist.
Burberry has started making bikinis, bandanas and dog bowls. Dunhill has ditched its dated gold and black for more sporty silver and rubber. Pringle has ironed out Nick Faldo in a diamond-pattern V-neck and signed up aristocrat model Honor Fraser.
On the road Jaguar has abandoned boxy saloons and roared forward in curvy coupes. Mini is cutting deals with MTV, and Morgan has gone all Penelope Pitstop. As Timothy Everest, creative director of Daks, puts it: 'British heritage is respected worldwide, but it is an institution in need of modernisation.'
Olde Englande has also benefited from a retail revolution. Consumers are richer than ever and are abandoning the high street for luxury marques. Martin Mason, of Pringle, says: 'There is so much throw-away fashion around. The consumer is willing to pay more for classics.'
Old Thomas Burberry, Laura Ashley and Mini designer Alec Issigonis may be turning in their graves but, thanks to the young guns, Britain is back.