Marks & Spencer has unveiled the summer fashion collections that could save or cost its chief executive his job. The new ranges are due to arrive in store in the spring, when the City will demand concrete evidence that Marc Bolland’s turnaround plan is working.
Clothing sales have been in decline for more than three years, but recent figures have pointed to an improving trend at the high-street chain.
Womenswear sales rose by 1.3% in the first five months of the year, before a poor September widely blamed on the unseasonably warm weather. It was a modest upswing, but the share price rose sharply as profit margins improved and the dividend payout was lifted.
The retailer’s new fashion team, led by former Jaeger boss Belinda Earl, has cut the number of cardigans and is backing jackets to be big sellers instead, with sporty bomber jackets, kimono-style wraps and light duster coats the order of the day.
After an era in which M&S fashion swung wildly between seasons of ultra trend-led collections (customer verdict: scary) and seasons of sensible, safe pieces (customer verdict: boring), the 70-strong design team led by Earl has worked hard to develop a consistent pitch, with enough fashion newness to make the clothes feel confident and exciting, balanced against accessibility in their design, pricing and merchandising.
For instance, in the spring/summer 2015 catwalks, many blouses and sweaters were shown cropped to the waist, displaying a sliver of skin above the waistband of skirts or trousers. The silhouette has been embraced by M&S for next season, but a burnt-orange silk blouse in this style in the spring 2015 collection has, after much design-room discussion, been given an extra inch of fabric at the hem, “because our customer doesn’t want to show her tummy,” says Frances Russell, trading director.
This accessibility in design is carried through into pricing and merchandise. The flagship Best of British range, which is entirely produced in the UK, has been extended at lower price points.
Jersey dresses, made in Leicestershire and retailing at £59.99, now make up a bigger part of the collection than more expensive tailoring.
More mannequins are used in store, to “inspire, show a new silhouette, and give ideas of the different ways to wear the pieces”, says Earl. For instance, the spring range features several versions of the ‘co-ord’ –
a structured T-shirt top with matching skirt – which will be displayed as outfits on mannequins, and broken up into separates on the rail.
The headline trend at M&S next season will be a seventies revival reflecting an influence on shows as diverse as Tommy Hilfiger and Prada, Saint Laurent and MaxMara. At M&S, the seventies will be neatly divided into a preppy, Ali McGraw look for the early season (suede, midi-skirts, works for cool-weather) and a breezy, bohemian collection for high summer (Broderie Anglaise, sheer blouses, holiday tunics.) The retailer believes the look can have a wide appeal, with shoppers able to choose from a luxury tan suede midi-skirt for £199, or a similar style in suedette for £39.99, for example.
The store is also getting new clothes on to the rails more often, with new items available every two weeks rather than every six, in line with rivals such as Zara. Fashion “is the most crucial driver in making women buy clothes”, says Earl. “Our customer likes innovation and she values quality, but it is fashion that creates the desire.” In a problematically warm autumn – among Earl’s team the weather is referred to, with wry humour, as “the W word” – highlights have been strong sales of jumpsuits, and fashion-led coat styles such as blanket wraps. Summer is even more unpredictable, with quirky must-haves influenced not only by weather but by streetstyle looks and festival-inspired flash trends. “The drumbeat of our phasing is much quicker these days,” says Russell.
“New pieces in store every two weeks, rather than six, and a more responsive design process so that we can read the sales and react to them.”
Fashion motivates purchases, but quality is still what M&S rely on to convince women to buy those clothes at M&S rather than a cheaper rival. Innovation in fabric and technology – the no-peep shirt, non-iron linen trousers, ‘airbrushed’ sheer hosiery for a slimming effect – are as important to M&S as being on-trend. Shifts in lifestyle are also as important as catwalk trends, and the rise in status of workout clothing is reflected both in a new range of high-tech sports bras, and in “athwear” detailing in fashion ranges: a silky vest has mesh segments and white piping, while silky tracksuit bottoms are styled with high heels.
