Don't your clothes need a room of their own?

In 'Sex and the City', Carrie Bradshaw famously couldn't do without hers, and now it seems the rest of us, as well as a few canny developers, have discovered a taste for the walk-in wardrobe

In Christopher Lasch's 1961 bestseller The Culture of Narcissism, the American author observed what he saw as a growing preoccupation with lifestyles that prioritise self-absorption and self-indulgence. If the specifications on a diverse range of new developments are anything to go by he clearly has a point.

The trend started with a Greek called Narcissus. Well-connected – he was the son of a god – and handsome, many women fell in love with him, but he found it difficult to commit, and eventually fell in love with himself. He and his latter-day counterparts would feel at home in the deceptively modest sounding Number 11 Thurlow Road, in London's Hampstead. Architects KSR and Kelly Hoppen Interiors have combined to develop a house whose master bedroom suite – bedroom, dressing room and bathroom – measures more than 1,000sq ft.

Or to put it another way, on a scale larger than the average two-bedroom apartment. The dressing room is lined with cupboards with leather-stitched handles, and has a central island of additional drawers, placed at an ergonomic height for packing the Abercrombie & Fitch and Canali into a suitcase.

The house, complete with furniture, fittings and accessories, even the designer lifestyle books, dressing gowns, and finely milled soaps, is for sale at £5.5m.

London does not have a monopoly on properties designed to appeal to massive egos. 118, an apartment at b-central, in Birmingham, is being marketed by developers Crest Nicholson, as "something special for someone special", an ideal bachelor pad that Birmingham-based Connections in Design, have filled with custom-made furniture, including a patent snakeskin armchair from Spain.

The second bedroom is equipped as a play area with a multi-gym and a large plasma screen linked to a Sony PlayStation. The main talking points of the master bedroom are the sparkling champagne cascade feature and the under-bed lighting, which can be activated from anywhere in the apartment using the hand-held controller, which would probably render the most talkative nymph speechless. The apartment is £495,000.

Waterside developments hold an intrinsic appeal to the narcissistic. Centurion, a Berkeley Homes development at Chelsea Bridge Wharf, provides ample scope for reflection. The work of architects Scott, Brownrigg and Turner, a large central watergarden with pools, curving weirs and fountains, designed by Gibberd Landscape, forms the centrepiece to the scheme.

The apartment building has been set at an angle to maximise views of the river so the 70 apartments have water views either across the Thames or over the watergarden. Features such as floor to ceiling architectural glazing and glass-fronted balconies have been included to maximise the reflections from the water during the day, and to mirror the light from the apartments by night. The interior specifications include a master bedroom suite with extensive walk-in wardrobe that features a flexible storage system of movable shelves, hanging rails and drawers. Prices start from £897,500 for a two bedroom home.

But it is not just the flash apartment sector where more internal space is being given over to "me" areas. At Brook Meadows in Tiptree, Essex, Gladstone Homes are building houses with two en-suite bathrooms and a sizeable dressing room with full ceiling-height fitted wardrobes all leading off from the master bedroom, as well as designs with large walk-in wardrobes to the two main bedrooms. Prices start at a little under £230,000.

Personally, I blame TV's Carrie Bradshaw for the new craze in dressing rooms. Older, larger properties frequently had a room off the main bedroom for clothes storage, and getting dressed, but most have been turned into a baby's room or an en suite in recent years. The Sex and the City character's walk-in room/ wardrobe, stacked high with designer labels and expensive shoes is the envy of many a female viewer (and some male). And its frequent appearance on the show is no doubt greeted by loud cries of "I want one of those". Hence the savvy developers inclusion of that very thing in their latest offerings.

Jeremy Marcus, Sales Director for developers Higgins Homes believes the lifestyle detailing on homes is now a crucial factor for buyers. "We found from our customer research that a wide cross-section really hankered after these fundamentally lifestyle-led features like walk-in wardrobes. "We found demand went across the board, so we are equally likely to incorporate features such as these these into a contemporary apartment as a large family home."

The master bedrooms at Solterre Rise, Higgins High Ongar development of 18 detached homes priced from £415,000, have a master bedroom with a massive walk-in wardrobe. "Buyers expect it", Mr Marcus says.

'The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations', by Christopher Lasch. WW Norton, £8.50;

11 Thurlow Road, Bargets, call 020 7402 9494, or FPD Savills, on 020 7472 5000;

b-central apartments, on 07000 212476;

Brook Meadows, on 01621 818694;

Chelsea Bridge Wharf, on 020 7720 4000;

Soltarre Rise, on 01277 366 220.