Joan Collins declared the coats “very chic”, and has her eye on a graceful ivory evening dress with caped shoulders. Kemi Badenoch plans to snap up the classic black tuxedo jacket. If the British public are as enthusiastic as the celebrity front row, Marks & Spencer’s first ever London fashion week catwalk looks like a hit.
The show, held at the Design Museum for 310 guests including Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher, was a gamble on both sides. Would snobby fashionistas be traumatised by elasticated waistbands and practical rainwear? Would M&S customers be alienated by a world of £2,000 handbags and shoes you can’t walk in?
The style message was “fashion with a small f, not a capital F”, said the M&S womenswear director, Maddy Evans. The look was new enough to be compelling (sharp kilts instead of flouncy tiered skirts, low-rise slouchy denim replacing mom jeans), but pitched at a before-the-watershed comfort level. A judicious amount of catwalk theatre was added with some sauce (a very short skirt, the odd semi-visible nipple) and a little zeitgeisty styling (faux fur stoles, Charli xcx-adjacent sunglasses).
The real stunner is the price. All the clothes in this collection went on sale as the show began on Friday, with half of the pieces under £50. The most expensive, a leather coat, will retail for £450.
The message – that catwalk style is for everyone – is a win for London fashion week, which has struggled to feel relevant to real lives as designer prices have soared during a cost of living crisis. As a vision of where our wardrobes are going next, the collection will not give Phoebe Philo or Jonathan Anderson any sleepless nights. M&S is not seeking to define the next vibe shift.
Instead, they picked up on the currents that make a wardrobe look contemporary: a colour palette of neutrals with pops of red (for men, as well as women) and a shift toward outfits built from separates over dresses. Menswear featured a classic grey office suit – worn, in a witty casting touch, by scowling nepo-rocker Lennon Gallagher – and centrist-dad chore jackets. M&S are now ranked in second place in style perception, behind Zara.
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