A classic dress is sure to impress; As we all tighten out belts, Emma Johnson discovers we are turning to that most feminine of fashion staples cool.

Byline: Emma Johnson

OKAY, so those wet-look leggings from Topshop are pretty ubiquitous - if you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on a pair (I am not paying pounds 50 for them on ebay - I don't care how fashionable they are).

But this season undeniably sees the dawning of the dress as the must-have item.

Fashion editors at London Fashion Week decreed it to be the wardrobe staple for 2008, and the trend looks set to continue well into 2009.

Kate Moss's latest collection features more of her fantastically popular floral teagowns and, when Victoria Beckham decided to up her game from designing jeans and sunglasses to serious couture, she went directly to dresses, presenting her own line of close-fitting, classically inspired dresses to New York fashion mavens.

This week, Patricia Field's long-anticipated Sex and the City-inspired range of dresses finally hits Marks and Spencer stores and - yes, you have guessed it - it is packed with to-die-for dresses.

But the question is, after decades when the right to wear trousers still looked like the mark of modernity, why is the dress suddenly so popular?

Jane Eastoe and Sarah Gristwood, authors of Fabulous Frocks (Pavilion Books), say that dresses have always captured the mood of the moment, and now it turns out that, like so many of the current crazes - from buying own brand to clothes-swapping parties - our sudden frock fetish could well have more to do with finance than fashion and, surprise surprise, the credit crunch!

There is a theory, the authors add, that in times of economic crisis we find safety in traditionally feminine dressing. It happened in 1929, when the Wall Street crash signalled the instant demise of the Twenties flapper frock, with its skirts above the knee.

Moreover, as the credit crunch steers us towards making only a few, significant purchases instead of ramraiding Primark for the same pair of shoes in six different colours - because they were only a fiver - then a dress is the most significant garment that a woman can buy.

Liverpool fashion buyer Joanne Watkinson says when money is tight it definitely makes sense for women to splash the cash on a dress over any other item of clothing.

"That is definitely reflected in our sales," says Joanne, buyer for online fashion boutique mywardrobe.com. "A dress is an immediate outfit. Throw on shoes and a coat and you are done.

"I buy tons of dresses because I travel a lot and they travel well. At the moment, we are buying in for spring and summer next year and people are definitely thinking about longevity in their purchases they want to buy items that they can build their whole outfit around and items that will last."

People want items that they can build their whole outfit around

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A dress, such as Kate Moss's Topshop babydoll dress, is an instant outfit, says Joanne Watkinson, below; Myleene Klass dressed in Vivienne Westwood couture at London Fashion Week