The Wintour of discontent: Vogue editor caught wearing SAME dress THREE times in a week

It seems no one is immune to the belt-tightening effects of the credit crunch, not even the ostensibly impervious editrice of American Vogue.

The notoriously glacial fashionista - nicknamed Anna "Nuclear" Wintour by her own staff on account of her icy demeanor - has been spotted three times in the past week wearing the same dress.

The floral print Carolina Herrera shift, tailored by the designer to perfectly fit the 58-year-old magazine editor-in-chief, has proved quite a hit with its new owner - so much so, in fact, that the queen of fashion has chosen to wear the distinctive dress on three separate occasions.

Value for money: US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour gives her Carolina Herrera dress its first outing for Milan Fashion Week on 24 June; then (right) sports the same frock at Chanel's couture show in Paris on 1 July

Wintour wore the Herrera dress yet again on 27 June as she cheered on Federer at Wimbledon

She premiered the dress on June 24, choosing it for her front row appearence at Milan Fashion Week's Armani show.

Forsaking the six-inch bondage heels she champions in her style bible, Wintour paired the dress with white, medium-heeled pointed pumps, strings of purple beads and a chunky glass necklace, as well as her trademark dark sunglasses.

Three days later, the dress had its second outing as Wintour attended Wimbledon, cheering on Roger Federer from Centre Court's Royal Box, where she was spotted laughing and joking with the tennis player's mother and girlfriend on one side, and rock stars Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale on the other.

This time, she accessorised with yet more statement glass beads, a white cardigan - and, yes, dark shades.

Lastly, and, one would hope, a speedy dry-clean later, the glacial fashionista gave the dress its third airing, wearing it in the front row at the Lacroix catwalk show during Paris Couture week.

This time, the shoes were cream slingback sandals, the crystal beads were back - as, of course, were those ubiquitous sunglasses.

Clearly the impeccably dressed Wintour, with collections from the world's top designers at her disposal, can lay her hands on any dress she desires. We can only assume then, that this is some sort of style statement.

And with us poorly paid proles feeling the pinch of the credit crunch, her style recycling stunt is right on cue.

So give that overheated credit card a rest, because if it's good enough for fashion's first lady to get value-for-money out of her favourite frock, it's good enough for us.