Desperate Housewives influence fashion

Paul Smith's summer look has a sense of decorum. Picture / Reuters

A new fashion icon is in town and her name is housewife. Well, it's either that or nana. Over in the fashion capitals of the world - where they're a couple of seasons ahead of us and already showing next season's collections - those fickle-but-trendsetting designers have forsaken their bohemian muses and gone all coy and ladylike on us.

As though art were cruelly imitating life, it really has been "goodbye Sienna, hello nanny" on the runways in New York and London.

A New York Times fashion writer called it matronly, another said it was simply classic and a reaction to all those dangly bohemian bits and nasty old ugg boots of the past few seasons.

Well, it's true that fashion is always about reactions and maybe what this trend is about is restraint and ladylike decorum.

As any website fashion editor worth their hobo bag has already written of the recent showings, some of the biggest names - Alexander McQueen, in particular - were taking as inspiration the trussed-up, tightly wound Hitchcock heroines of past cinematic thrillers.

Tailored tweed suits on hourglass figures, lacey collars, pussybows on blouses, printed headscarves like a 60s housewife and bobbed hair were all on the agenda.

With a more sombre mood in general, Prada wants you to wear Alice-bands and classics such as the printed shirt-dress, which was certainly a housewife's favourite in its dowdier moments.

There were even - gasp - twinsets, matching knit cardigans and sensible-length pleated skirts on the catwalks.

Upmarket fashion atelier Yves Saint Laurent even did versions of the old lady's loafer. Of course, they were beautifully coloured or in high-gloss leather and had platform soles, but there's no doubt that their spiritual cousin was one of those comfortable, flat Hush Puppy loafers your granny likes.

But it's not just in the fashion world that housewives and matrons are dominating. In the celebrity stakes, housewife has become shorthand for desperate and major celebrity, as anyone who watches telly or reads gossip mags can attest.

In the absence of Sex and the City, followers of fashion have been keeping a close eye on what women are wearing in Desperate Housewives (screening on TV2), the popular comedy-drama set in the American suburbs.

After all, although there can never be another Carrie Bradshaw - she wore a giant fabric flower on her bosom and thousands, yes thousands, of women followed suit - the women on Desperate Housewives change their costumes between five and 12 times every episode.

And the show's costume designer, Cate Adair, reckons there's evidence that the housewives of Wisteria Lane are becoming fashion role models.

She is sent hundreds of items every week by manufacturers desperate to have their garments on primetime.

One trendy Los Angeles boutique devoted its shop window to the campy clothing on the programme, and after an episode in which Bree (Marcia Cross) swapped her neo-con uniform for a hot, red La Perla lingerie set, pearls and fur coat to win back her straying husband's affections, the expensive knicker-makers reported that the set, costing the equivalent of $400, sold out.

Adding to all this housewifely dedication is the fact the real-life housewives are not what they used to be. There was a time when, if you became a mother, you moved to the other side of the sexually available divide. You wouldn't have been seen pushing a pram while dressed in a low-cut top or heels.

But sociological changes have meant this century's yummy mummies can wear whatever they like and be as fashionable as they want.

Maybe this is because, in an economy where many households need to have both partners working, a stay-at-home domestic manager is somewhat of a luxury.

If you wanted to expand on that, you might say that this might mean more luxurious or glamorous wardrobes for housewives too.

But does this mean that the average New Zealand housewife will soon be swapping T-shirts and jeans for designer headbands, pleated skirts and printed shirt dresses?

Ask any mother and the first thing she will tell you is that it's all a matter of practicality.

Let's not worry about the price-tags or availability at present because you can bet mainstream New Zealand manufacturers will soon by making their own versions.

Ask any fashion adviser and they will tell you that with some of these styles, there will be a fine line between fresh and frumpy.

Although designers overseas have made granny's loafers, they were glossy and had towering platform heels - and the runway nanas were 18-year-old Italian models.

Let's just say it's nice to see clothes that real women can actually wear without too much stress about mismatched prints and wooden bangles.