Do WAGs dress to the nines because they’re Scousers? Or do Scousers dress up because they have the fashiontastic example of so many Jimmy-Choo-shod, Balenciaga-clad, Birkin-bag-wielding WAGs to emulate? It is a moot point, especially as the WAG style – once so universally derided – is now so widely copied that it is increasingly like the new fashion mainstream.

Justine Mills, the sophisticated “eye” behind Cricket, the designer shop in Liverpool responsible for the styling of many of the celebrities in the city and beyond, would argue that Liverpudlians’ penchant for dressing up came first, even if they are open to the influence of WAGs and other icons. “From a young age we are taught to look after ourselves,” she explains, “to follow the fashion shows, to look to celebrities to inspire us – and to translate what they are wearing into our own style. In Liverpool, fashion is all about having fun, living for the moment and dressing up.”

And indeed, walking the streets of Liverpool on a Thursday night feels a bit like walking down a catwalk. Everyone is dressed up: men in suits or smart jeans and pressed shirts, women with glamorous hair and make-up, high heels and perfectly accessorised outfits. It’s very different from many British cities, including London.

Coleen McLoughlin backs up this view. “I will always remember reading an interview with Louise Rednapp in Vogue, from when she first moved up to Liverpool with Jamie. She said she felt awkward and embarrassed going out because everybody in the city was so glamorous and always looked fantastic,” she says, sitting on the edge of a bed, in an Alice Temperley dress and high, black Christian Louboutin heels, looking very glamorous and fantastic.

“Style in London is very different,” Mills says. “Men and women in London make an effort to look understated. They aspire to look like they haven’t tried too hard. In Liverpool, we don’t care if everyone knows we have spent a lot of time and money to achieve a very polished finish. I actually have different wardrobes for when I come to London: I always dress down. Everyone there is frightened not to be cool. Coleen and other WAGs… they are just a product of the city.”

Lorraine McCulloch is another force to be reckoned with in the Liverpool fashion scene. The ex-wife of Ian McCulloch, of Echo and the Bunnymen fame, McCulloch introduced the late Isabella Blow to the wonders of Liverpool style for Blow’s 2002 landmark feature for Tatler, in which the British fashion industry’s leading early adopter decreed the city to be the new fashion capital of Britain. As Blow put it, “I think Liverpool people naturally wear more fashion than the inhabitants of any other British city. The girls there are wonderful. They all wear high heels and think you’re a lesbian if you wear flat shoes.”

McCulloch, who recalls Blow likening the women to peacocks, with their glossy lips and dazzling outfits, remembers the vibrant Liverpool of the Seventies, when Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey and Pete Burns would walk down the street, “looking unbelievable, like they had just landed from another planet. Musicians have always pushed the boundaries of fashion, but beyond that, I think fashion has been a way for working-class kids from Liverpool to get away from the everyday humdrum. That mentality still exists; everybody works really hard during the week; on the weekends they want to cut loose, dress up and have fun.”

The Liverpudlian approach to fashion does, however, seem to be spreading, with many Brits aiming less for the just-got-out-of-bed look and more for a bit of high-glam and shine. “I don’t set out to influence the style of other people,” says Coleen McLoughlin, “but sometimes girls do come up to me in the street and ask where I have bought my clothes from, which is dead flattering.” Mills agrees. “At the last couple of parties I have been to in London, I thought people were looking a bit more polished. And they look better for it. That is what we all want to see in our celebrities, something aspirational.”

Says McCulloch: “In the past people haven’t been that positive about us and put the city down. But Liverpudlians will never be put down. We are just going to get on with it, get dressed up and enjoy ourselves. That is the Liverpudlian spirit.”