Can its new cut-price catwalk clones revive M&S?
The shop has spent so long stuck in the fashion doldrums, there have been times I’ve wondered whether Marks & Spencer will ever navigate its way out.
But with catwalk cloning fast becoming the main criterion for success on the high Street, this season may finally see it moving again.
As these impressively lookalike images show, dear old Marks & Sparks is no slouch in paying homage to the world’s top fashion houses.
If imitating style is the sincerest form of flattery, M&S is practically genuflecting.
Red ticks the hot new colour box for autumn at M&S. especially when it comes to channelling a Mansur Gavriel red coat, which would set you back a fearsome £925 in contrast to the Marks version for a mellow £119.
Or a pair of £705 super-shiny patent red stilettos from celebrity favourite Gianvito Rossi versus an acceptable £79 matte version at M&S.
Then there’s the not-quite-Burberry M&S trench coat (who’d pay £1,295 for the real thing when £99 will garner envious looks?), and the almost-Balmain M&S navy blazer and wide-leg dogtooth trousers (£2,440 for the two designer items as opposed to £100 for M&S’s equivalent).
Or how about Marks’ pretty, long-sleeved dress (£49.50) inspired by Preen (the designer version will set you back £900), or the near-as-damnit helmut Lang white shirt (£35 instead of £345)? And so it goes on.
Admittedly, the leather is a touch less buttery, the fabrics less ‘luxe’, the cut and tailoring not quite the designer-end ticket — but for those who like clothes that are classic and wearable, while nodding to prevailing trends, this has to be M&S’s best fashion edit in a very long while.
It’s hardly original to clone the catwalk. Zara’s been doing it at breakneck speed for years. But rather than go for the more radical elements, which Zara might get away with, M&S has picked out only those items that won’t scare off its style-aware but fashion-cautious customers.
It also turns out that, rather than making broad assumptions about what its patrons want to wear, then getting it horribly wrong, M&S has made the radical move of asking its increasingly sceptical customers what they like.
HAvING collated the views of 18,000 of them, it transpires that women hanker after a bold colour palette, timeless, seasonal staples with a modern twist and outfit-building options.
It also emerges that M&S woman wants to be judged by her style, not her age. Don’t we all?
Since its Nineties heyday — an M&S shirt worn by supermodel Amber valletta graced the cover of vogue in 1996 — the giant retailer’s fashion turnover on clothing has almost halved. earlier this year, it was announced that clothing would be removed from around 60 M&S UK stores.
Who can forget the ‘leading ladies’ debacle in 2013 when, as photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the great and good of British womanhood, from Dame helen Mirren to Tracey emin, lounged around the countryside looking imperious while dressed in M&S? Presumably, the idea was to win back the female movers and shakers. Instead, the overall look was intimidating.
Then there was the Alexa Chung moment, with the quirky model drafted in to reinvent iconic pieces from the M&S archive in 2016. That didn’t work, either.
Still, let’s forget the past. Now, there’s much to celebrate in these catwalk-inspired pieces. And I’d be amazed if those over-the-knee boots weren’t snapped up by Theresa May.
But what’s the good of a few standout pieces only to have that heartsinking feeling when you enter a dreary M&S branch? Not only do the covetable items seem to sell out immediately, but customers outside the capital will be hard-pressed to find the full range at all.
A little in-store service might also improve matters. Finding someone to help you too often remains the needle in a haystack nightmare. And there’s something weirdly awry with M&S’s colour palette, especially when it comes to knitwear. Maybe it’s just me, but whatever shade the store hits on, from purple to green or blue, it’s always the wrong tone, guaranteed to make me look pasty and worn out.
The relationship women have with Marks & Spencer seems to mirror what happens when you marry the boy next door. It’s safe and pleasant, but there’s the tiniest risk of boredom. It’s only after years of disappointments and unfulfilled desires that your eyes begin to wander.
We are not obliged to remain faithful to shops that let us down over and over again. After all, a healthy, working relationship cannot be based on nostalgia. So I no longer feel committed to M&S. Plenty of other stores are openly — and successfully — trying to seduce me. But, creature of habit that I am, I’m prepared to give M&S one last chance. And with this new, dazzling, designer-inspired collection, I’m even considering a reconciliation . . .