Coronation Street chic

You can almost hear Milan's fashion house supremos spluttering into their cappuccinos.

New York's elite fashion scene is set to turn its back on the likes of Gucci and instead look to an unlikely set of icons - Hilda Ogden, Nora Batty and Margaret Thatcher.

Fashion conscious women are expected to be seen in the straightlaced tweed and hair rollers 'granny chic' style of Sixties Britain.

Although also drawing inspiration from the Tory middle-England style of Lady Thatcher, Miss Marple and the Queen, much of the look will be derived from early episodes of TV's longest-running soap, Coronation Street,.

That is despite the programme being almost unknown across the Atlantic.

Celebrated fashion stylist Katie Grand says in the next issue of New York Magazine: 'There's something very interesting about working class Britain in the early Sixties.'

Explaining why Weatherfield styles could blitz Italian high-fashion, Ms Grand writes: 'Coronation Street was black-and-white and so grimy. They just looked so cool. Hilda Ogden has her hair in curlers but is also in a fabulous tweed jacket and a really nice blouse.

'It's quite prim but just as sexy as the younger characters of the time, your Bet Lynchs, for example,' added Ms Grand.

An insider from Corrie producer Granada said: 'Coronation Street has always led the way in the fashion stakes and the clothes which are becoming fashionable in New York are timeless classics.'

The Big Apple already has a shop for the grandmother style, Granny-Made, selling knitware.

However, while Madonna and Guy Ritchie may have been seen sporting flat caps yesterday, it seems not everyone is ready to follow suit.

Josephine Colling, editor of Drapers, the fashion business weekly, said: 'I think anything called granny chic is going to be hard to sell.

'I'm certainly not going to be wearing rollers next season and I can't imagine many others doing so either.'