Our fashion editor gets a WAG makeover by Coleen Rooney’s stylist

Back in 2003, a 17-year-old Coleen McLoughlin was spotted out and about in her hometown of Liverpool with a distinctive leopard-print carrier bag bearing the name Cricket. A future fashion star was duly anointed.

Actually in those early days, Coleen, childhood sweetheart since the age of 12 of Wayne Rooney, was as much excoriated as she was celebrated, caught in the crossfire of snobbery and the North’s tribal loyalties.

“She was so young,” says Justine Mills, the 50-year-old co-founder (with her husband) of Cricket, the boutique that still services Rooney’s wardrobe needs, as well as those of her four sons, and who has, over the years, become part of the Rooneys’ tight, inner circle. “But even then, Coleen could edit a rail I’d put together for her. She always knew what worked for her body” – that is, fitted, tailored pieces that showed shape, but modestly, and didn’t swamp her. At 5ft 3in, she is not a fan of the exaggeratedly oversized trend.

One infamous “Wagatha Christie” court case and two Vogue covers later (Alexandra Shulman put her on the front of the magazine in 2005, to the outrage of some readers, and then, styled by Mills, she was one of the covers of Edward Enninful’s final September 2023 issue), Rooney’s style has matured into a sleek, sophisticated precis of classic pieces she can wear over and again. Her look will be on show in her documentary, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, which is released on Disney + today.

She’s also a savvy distiller of codes. While Rebecca Vardy, her opponent in that court case, flaunted a procession of flashy labels throughout the hearing, Rooney stuck resolutely to muted tailoring from Zara and the rest of the high street, while her husband wore M&S. Guess who won?

However, we’re not here to exhume Coleen’s back catalogue (for that, see below), but to assess where Liverpool’s much-vaunted sense of style stands today, because in many ways it is as misunderstood as ever. The ultimate Liverpudlian Anne Robinson’s view is of a proud, if-you’ve-got-it-flaunt-it, pragmatic city. “Ask a Mancunian which is the UK’s second city and they’ll say Manchester. Ask a Liverpudlian and they’ll say London.”

There can be no better guide to it all than Mills, who, aged 19, launched Cricket in 1991, originally in a space next to the Cavern Club on Mathew Street. These days Cricket occupies 6,000 square feet of a shopping centre, sells men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and features triple height glass windows and a bespoke grey carpet decorated with its immortal name. “The long sweeping strip of carpet that runs the length of a curved window display of designer bags and shoes is brilliant for Instagram,” Mills grins. “We knew it would be. That’s why it’s designed like a catwalk.”

The lighting is as friendly as the staff, with changing room mirrors that don’t make you cry. What’s really striking is that, while luxury fashion stores in London, Paris or New York fetishise scarcity and emptiness, displaying about three items on a rail, Cricket twinkles and purrs with merchandise.

You don’t just get the one Max Mara Teddy coat in tobacco, you get it in taupe and grey. There are opalescent sequinned Attico skirts in mini and midi lengths and more Bottega Veneta and Celine pieces than I’ve seen in their Bond Street boutiques, including the fabled Bottega leather “denim” jeans. These classics are two of Cricket’s best-selling brands. So much for flash.

The aura of largesse is deliberate. “You have to be sensitive when you’re selling big designer labels in a working-class city,” says Mills. “You don’t want to come across as pompous or make people feel their money’s not good enough.”

She’s nonplussed by the way high-spending customers have to queue outside boutiques or the way sales associates make customers wait ages while they search in some distant stockroom for merchandise that’s been advertised. “Where’s the luxury in that?”

The stylist Isabella Blow once dedicated a whole issue of Tatler to the city, describing Liverpudlians as peacocks. But ranked against that positive reading are the many stereotypes about orange tans, trout pouts, girls going shopping before their big night out in hair curlers – and the annual ritual of pictures showing Liverpudlian women dripping in labels while face down on the turf at Aintree. “That is a bit annoying,” says the mild-mannered Mills, “because, to be honest, they’re not true Liverpudlians. They’re Woolly Backs [Liverpudlian for out-of-towners].”

There follows a lengthy and entertaining discourse on the nuances of dress codes in every region north of Watford. In a nutshell, Cheshire is still wearing tight-fitting Balmain jackets, skinny trousers and heels, with a neat belt, and everything tucked in. Manchester is edgier and artsy while Liverpudlians have always gone for it.

“They’re not afraid to experiment because, if it doesn’t work today, there’s always next weekend.” That said, the roller-wearing in public has died a bit of a death, along with the Scouse brow – the early 2010s trend for oversized, painted-on eyebrows.

“I think people got tired of the criticism. It’s mainly the really young girls and the Woolly Backs who do the rollers now.”

I should point out that Mills is wearing, at most, mascara, light foundation and some on-point, tousled ribbon waves (like everyone she knows, she goes to the hairdresser for a blow dry twice a week). Outfit wise, she has on a beautiful brown and cream Valentino (one of her favourite labels) car-coat with distinctive V monogram, a blue-and-white striped Frankie Shop shirt and leggings and Celine loafers. It’s very modern Liverpool. Masculine shirts are hugely popular with younger customers wearing them as dresses, with a designer belt, “a more affordable way to buy into a luxury label,” adds Mills. “Gym wear is a daytime uniform for mums and the younger women who wear it with tailored blazers. It makes them feel clean and tidy.”

Work travel means Mills understands the sartorial codes in London or New York, but even she still gets caught out. “At a recent wedding for a stylist friend in London I seemed to be the only one who didn’t get the memo about wearing black,” she winces. She arrived in a chocolate-brown and green silk Valentino pyjama set. “I thought it was pretty restrained but I felt so loud. I had to change into a black Loewe blouse and trousers that I had in my bag.”

She’s very good at her job, friendly and candid. We sent her the vaguest of briefs when it came to choosing outfits for me – basically asking her to “make it Liverpool” – and she came up with a dangerously tempting selection of classics but also items that pushed me outside my comfort zone. Cricket is no longer exclusively for Wags – as well as Rooney, Alex Gerrard and Abbey Clancy have been among its clientele – although it does huge business when there are matches on, and the Chelsea fans come in along with the locals.

There are 15-year-old first timers shopping for Balenciaga trainers with their Christmas and birthday money, captains of industry and young mums (there’s a steady stream of them and their buggies while I’m there). “One of our best customers is Shelley, an 80-year-old former teacher,” says Mills. She generally advises her customers to shop carefully.

“Liverpudlians like to spend when they have cash, but there’s a cost of living crisis. When you’re buying two items a season you need to think really carefully about what they’ll work with and how long you’ll wear them.”

The outrageous price spikes of luxury labels in the past two years, a pain point throughout the industry, have been noted by Cricket’s customers. “All the brands want to be Hermes now,” she laments. “And the customers aren’t idiots. Even the footballers and their wives baulk at some of the prices.” That includes Coleen. The scooped-out lace mini dress that Kaia Gerber wore to open the most recent Valentino show retails at £11,500. Mills didn’t place an order.

While the pandemic was challenging for Cricket (“Liverpool went very casual, and that’s not our thing”) it has recovered. Customers travel from far and wide, including the Middle East, part of which decamps to the city every August. Christmas is huge. “Everyone has at least four outfits planned, including their Christmas pyjamas.”

Liverpool is a lovely, relatively small, city and the working day ends at 5.30pm, so everyone goes home to change before going out. “There’s none of that London desk-til-dinner business,” says Mills. “People do a full change before heading out.”

That means there’s a certain lack of spontaneity to social lives. “I could never ring up my girlfriends and say, ‘Let’s go out tonight.’ They’d all pass because there wouldn’t be time to get their hair and make up done professionally. That’s basic-level grooming on a Saturday night.” On the up side, this determination to put on a good front means that Cricket, which still doesn’t have a website, could be the last multi-brand bricks-and-mortar store standing.

Coleen Rooney’s style evolution

2004

Teenage Coleen accompanies Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson to announce Rooney as Manchester United’s new signing. Her entry-level kit includes a Chanel bag and Christian Louboutin platform heels.

2006

The new England WAG on the block, Coleen joins Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole in Baden-Baden for the World Cup.

2009

Coleen went through a boho phase – everyone did – and showcased the aesthetic to great effect on Ladies’ Day at Aintree.

2010

Just months after claims that Wayne was unfaithful while she was pregnant, Coleen is back to business, launching a new fragrance.

2011

Coleen amps up the glam factor, going for a much more “fashion” look – and where better to show it off than Aintree.

2014

By now, Coleen is a mother-of-two – not that she’s let that dampen her enthusiasm for fashion. Matching Louboutins to one’s dress is de rigueur.

2016

Coleen’s style is still bold, but it is edging into more elegant territory; the beige courts and caped dress show a more nuanced approach.

2018

When Wayne (first) hung up his boots in 2017, Coleen flew under the radar, only making rare appearances, in which she continued to embrace a more elevated look.

2022

Coleen won over the fashion set during the Wagatha Christie trial with her relaxed suiting and Gucci loafers. The only thing unchanged is her love of Chanel bags.

2023

Sleek and elegant, Coleen’s transformation from WAG to legitimate fashion player is complete.