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Last year’s Brat summer saw hemlines raised, necklines lowered and material become more sheer.
But a look at the high street this month appears Brat summer is truly over – with this season’s high street instead full of ‘trad wife’ fashion.
The trend – traditional wife roles – has inspired high street brands including H&M, Zara, New Look and M&S.
Brands are now decking out shop windows with gingham, lace, waist-cinching frocks and the daintiest of bows – all mirroring styles espoused by ‘traditional wives’.
Garments designed to mimic the girlish flair of the 1950s are similarly given coquettish design names, with traditional style dresses called Flossie, Mathilde, Birdie.
Speaking to Femail, celebrity stylist Marian Kwei explained, ‘the look boasts tea dresses, puff sleeves, prim ladylike long skirts, a soft pretty colour palette, twinsets, cinched in waists and modest higher necklines.’
One floor-length dress with a high-neck bow collar by Urban Outfitters promises to ‘give romantic vibes’, while a similar frock from Nobody’s Child is coyly described itself as ‘one for the gingham girls.’
The tradwife movement has seen woman across the US, Australia, and the UK – reject progressive feminist views on gender roles in favour of embracing ‘traditional’ values centred on domesticity and childcare.
Those who embrace the lifestyle have proved divisive in recent year, with feminists arguing that tradwives are regressing decades of progress in the strive for gender equality.
Speaking to Femail, Marian said the clothes ‘centre around an ultra feminine silhouette inspired by nostalgia for bygone eras such as the ladylike housewife 50’s.
‘These styles of clothes are coming back into fashion and are taking over the high street in places like Zara and River Island.’
She said that this is ‘because their prime customer is the younger person and they know that Gen Z is embracing a ‘slower’, ‘more mindful and better balanced’ lifestyle (minus the previous patriarchal connotations it came with).’
According to Vogue Arabia, the tradwife trend has ’emphasised virtues of modesty and subtlety’, which has slowly crept into mainstream where ‘higher necklines, longer hemlines and softer make-up’ have ‘manifested’.
One black gingham dress by Nobody’s Child, which is sold at M&S, features a ‘frilled collar, puff sleeves and panelled waist designed to flatter’.
A blue checkered number from New Look is mimics long milkmaid frocks worn before World War II.
The brand even describes how ‘the short puff sleeves offset the slender corset-style bodice of this checked dress’ to ‘add a preppy spin to your midi lengths.’
‘These styles of clothes are coming back into fashion and are taking over the high street in places like Zara and River Island,’ said the celebrity stylist, Marian Kwei
A floral number from Nobody’s Child, which has a bow detail neckline, ruffled hem and fluttery sleeves, is called the ‘Eloise’ midi dress and is described by the retailer as a ‘vintage-inspired’ garment that is ‘classic reimagined’.
Elsewhere, online retailers have also jumped on the trend with the likes of Chinese fast-fashion brands, Shein and Temu, boasting their own selection of ‘retro’ frocks.
One dress from Shein is described as a ‘simple retro elegant ruffle floral’ dress, with the model pictured behind a kitchen backdrop, next to a bowl of lemons.
Google searches for ‘trad wife dresses’, ‘maxi dress’ and ‘modest clothing’ all skyrocketed in March.
At the heart of much of the tradwife debate is influencer, Nara Smith, who rapidly amassed millions of followers of TikTok after scoring fame from her lengthily, method-heavy cooking videos.
The 23-year-old, who has three children with her husband, Lucky Blue, now boasts 11 million followers on the app, where she acts as a prodigy for aspiring traditionalists – despite also being symbolic of cultural controversy.
In her videos, the mother-of-three is seen cooking up a storm for her husband, whipping up batches of freshly made bread, making sweets, bakes and savoury meals from scratch – all while sporting traditional finery.
In most of her videos, Nara wears high collared shirts with lace-trims, bow details and long flowing skirts – even whipping up a batch of her homemade Nutella, the influencer is seen decked out in Chanel.
Elsewhere and arguably the most prolific tradwife is Hannah Neeleman, also known as Ballerina Farm, who lives in Kamas, Utah, with her husband and eight children.
Espousing the traditional values of homemaking and performing the role of domestic goddess, Hannah is scarcely seen without a high-neck collar, ruffled sleeve or puffed dress.
According to the celebrity stylist, while tradwives are inevitably controversial, their lifestyle continues to pose questions to Gen Z women, and thus their fashion continues to crop up online.
She said: ‘These fashion outlets are aware that Gen Z are nostalgic for something different having watched generations before them burn-out trying to achieve the former ideal of ‘having it all.’
‘The rise of tradwife fashion speaks to a broader cultural response to uncertainty,’ she said, adding the controversial lifestyle counters social change. ‘It’s celebrating a simplified version of traditional roles.’
But while new to the high street, styles from the 1950s and 1960s have been trending so far longer, with Miu Miu parading pearl adorned shift dresses for their 2024 Fall collection, and Christian Champion following suite with waist accentuating voluminous skirts.
Last year, the fashion site, Who What Wear predicted that ‘debutante dressing’ would be a defining look for the year.
Fashion business consultant, Carolyn Mair, told Fashion Magazine that the turn towards the conservative style reflects current ‘uncertainty’.
She said: ‘The rise of tradwife fashion speaks to a broader cultural response to uncertainty,’ she said, adding the controversial lifestyle counters social change. ‘It’s celebrating a simplified version of traditional roles.’
Describing the aesthetic, one self-described British tradwife, Alena Pettitt, said: ‘The Trad Wives we see online often fall into two visual camps, the 1940s and 1950s “Retro/Vintage” housewife, or the Pioneer/Farm girl.’
She said after years of experimenting with traditional looks, she realised she ‘likes to look feminine’ and now typically finds herself ‘reaching for the cotton and shirred milkmaid dresses’.
Again, a style expression that has since bled into the mainstream.
Marian said: ‘Although many are apprehensive of this aesthetic (due to issues with what it means for feminism and autonomy) and despite this look subculturally being a world away from the more modern forward thinking staples such as skimpy tops, mini skirts, lingerie dressing and jeans.
‘I think that given that the topic of ‘Trad Wife’ has had 300 million views on TikTok and the number is growing daily that this aesthetic is here to stay.’
‘For as long as achieving the perfect balance of having it all (both success in our work lives and the perfect home & family lives) seemingly continues to appear to cost personal toll,’ she remarked.
As such, the continual exposure to the vintage style makes it increasingly appealing.
She theorised that: ‘This generation wants to escape the burn-out they think that trying to attain ‘it all’ has cost previous generations. This look seems to purvey the idea that you indeed can have it all.’
