Following WAG-in-chief Coleen McLoughlin's marriage to Wayne Rooney on the Italian Riviera in the past week, one thing is guaranteed: the London fashion pack, claws sharpened, will launch their assassination of the predominantly Northern wedding party the minute their photos are revealed in a celebrity magazine this week.

For all her self-learned style and girl-next-door prettiness, there's one thing that fashionistas just can't forgive.

Coleen is from Liverpool; and that's North of the Watford Gap.

Cue catty sniggers from Team Moss in London, who believe that style exists only in the capital and means grubby Ugg boots worn with boho dresses.

As a proud Yorkshire girl, I feel Coleen's pain.

Two years ago, I was invited to a glossy magazine's party at Movida, a trendy celebrity nightclub in London. Had the party been in my native Northern England, I'd have known exactly what to wear. (And, no, I don't mean a flat cap.)

But the fact that the bash was down South threw me into wardrobe turmoil, fully aware of the growing fashion divide between the two ends of the country.

'Little black dress' was the response when I asked the magazine's features editor what she and the other girls would be wearing.

Never one to feel I have to follow the crowd, I turned up in an LPD (little purple dress) instead.

Imagine my horror when I arrived at Movida to discover that every single girl on the magazine had left her LBD safely at home and opted for the grungy 'just-finished-cleaning-the-house' skinny jeans and T-shirt look instead, albeit compiled of high-end designer labels.

Was this a conspiracy to ensure I had never felt more like the token Northern bird?

It felt like it.

But it got me thinking: who should feel more uncomfortable  -  me for checking the dress code and donning a sassy frock and heels accordingly, or them for their 'can't be bothered' Southern attitude to what had been billed as a glamorous night out?

Back, then, to Coleen and the WAG wedding of the decade.

Though the sight of Northerners wearing glamorous designer outfits to her nuptials and, God forbid, 'matchy matchy' clutches and heels will undoubtedly earn the scorn of the fashion commentators, others will be forced to observe that, erm, actually, many guests got their attire just right.

Perhaps the Coleen effect has rubbed off.

For the bride may once have made her fair share of velour-tracksuit fashion faux pas as a fledgling WAG, working as a Saturday girl in Liverpool's New Look, but she's since earned her fashion wings.

She certainly has, in the eyes of Justine Mills, owner of Cricket, the much-acclaimed designer boutique in Liverpool made famous by its WAG clientele, which includes Steven Gerrard's wife Alex and Peter Crouch's girlfriend Abigail Clancy.

Justine styled many of Coleen's wedding party.

'While it can be cool to look a bit casual on a normal day, there are occasions, like weddings, when women absolutely should embrace the opportunity to get dressed up  -  and that's what Northern women are very good at,' she observes.

'You only have to look at photos in magazines of high-profile parties or weddings in London and there'll be the Geldof girls or Jade Jagger and her daughters as guests, all looking like they're off to a rock gig.

'I think that's so disrespectful to the bride and groom or the host.

'Coleen is a terrific example of real fashion etiquette.

'She makes few fashion mistakes now, she dresses appropriately for the occasion and she's got her own polished style.

'Slowly, people are coming round to the idea that we are stylish in the North, too, and that we don't feel the need to follow what Londoners do.' 

And the key differences between women in the North and their fellow fashion lovers in the South-East?

'In London,' says Justine, 'women will dress down their Louboutin heels with skinny jeans or leggings and less-is-more hair and make-up, which they see as being very cool.

'In Liverpool, that would be criminal: the girls here make sure the rest of their outfit is as glam as the shoes themselves.

'Overall grooming is really important up here  -  just as it is in America.'

Of course, there are certain Northern fashion traits that can't be denied.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to move to Nottingham (as far south as you'll get me) and discover that people here wear coats on nights out during the winter.

But the coats must enhance the outfit, you understand.