Will polygamist chic soon hit the runway?

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It’s only a matter of time before a designer like Marc Jacobs sends models down the runway wearing polygamist chic. No doubt, you have seen the women of the sect marching in and out of the courthouse in their pastel, prairie-inspired billowing gowns. Their hair -- in odd bouffant updos that seem to defy gravity -- is spinsterish, but also akin to elaborate couture coifs we see at the Paris shows. (This AP photo by Tony Gutierrez feels like a catwalk shot.)

In 2000, John Galliano showed a collection for House of Dior that was inspired by the ‘homeless’ -- models wore plastic clothespins and empty whiskey bottles as accessories. Seven years earlier, Jean Paul Gaultier showed the front rows his take on Hasidic style, with men striding the catwalk in the sect’s traditional attire and hairstyles. As for the polygamists, a great article in the Salt Lake Tribune by columnist Rebecca Walsh explains why the pompadour is so important -- the higher the wave, the more righteous the woman. Now, that is fascinating. The prairie-meets-Easter-parade look hearkens to the early Mormon pioneer days.

The notion that these women wear uniforms to stand out is not unlike fashionygamists’ insistence on all carrying the same ‘it’ bag to distance themselves from the have-nots. With the current trend in huge purses, it’s the bigger the bag, the more stylishly righteous the woman.

Who wants to bet the Rage that some designer is shouting ‘Get me a thousand yards of pale pink muslin!’ right now?