Has M&S Finally Found Its Groove?

Every season I arrive at the launch of the new collection with a familiar sense of unease: will they succeed in pinning down what women will want to wear next season? The retailer has been guilty of delivering hit and then miss collections as it struggles to define its handwriting (industry speak for the kind of clothes a store is recognised for), and so it's under pressure to perform from customers and City traders alike. Hurrah, then, for whatever they're putting in the Percy Pigs at Marks & Spencer HQ, because spring/summer 2015 looks like the store is finally getting there.

The changes that style director Belinda Earl and her team have been ushering in are now taking hold. Throw in the retailer's recent half-year results, where womenswear sales were up 1.3 per cent during the first five months of the year, and it begs the question; are things beginning to look up for the high-street bell-weather?

"Everything is coming together," says Earl, of her latest and fourth collection for the retailer. "The quality, the new styles, the ad campaigns - it's all filtering through. It was never going to be a one-season turnaround."

So, if the first half of 2014 has gone reasonably well for womenswear (we're talking cautious green shoots of recovery), then what's to love about spring next year?

Happily the store is making a play for that stylish yet predictable thing that it once did so well. Next season brings a gentle nudge of elegant, wearable fashion, rather than a chaotic fumble to find and show off The Next Big Thing.

In fact, the collection is light on the trend hits of previous seasons (rememberthat pink coat), and instead there are items to subtly slot into your wardrobe, whether you're flush or frugal, aged 30 or 60.

There's a Seventies midi-skirt in brown (real) suede, topstitched in cream and priced at £199 - it's a brilliant bit of Ali MacGraw styling. Then there's a perfectly good suedette version at £39.50 for the woman on a budget (or equally the woman who balks at spending £200 on a skirt). The rusty pink, lightweight cotton trench coat is a hit (perfect for spring trips to posh pub gardens), and the kimono coats with judo belts and bejewelled tan chunky-heeled sandals are star buys, as is the Breton-stripe column midi-dress, to be worn with a denim jacket until true summer bursts onto the scene - and M&S has plenty of those to choose from.

Denim is a category that speaks to Earl's vision of M&S: stylish yet workaday clothing for the every woman, and the retailer is making a big deal of the blue stuff this season, with denim dresses, jumpsuits and jeans (there's even a pair in the collection that promises to pert-up your behind with cleverly placed pockets and considered seams).

This collection isn't brimming over with fizz-factor, but it is a comforting vision of what you want to see on the rails of M&S if you're looking for an emergency, smart skirt for a party; have spilt something on your shirt while having a power lunch (at your desk); or want to try out a trend, but need a bit of hand-holding, too - and isn't that what M&S is there to do?