Those au fait with fashion's new favourite compound adjective will recognise this as a highly trendy move. Burberry, Tom Ford and Vetements have all announced that they willforgo the traditional catwalk schedule in favour of showing collections that will become immediately available for purchase.
So, on Wednesday May 11, concurrent to the unveiling of M&S's autumn/winter 2016 collection to the fashion press, one segment of it will go on sale online and in 26 stores - six months earlier than it usually would. Eschewing heavy, winter pieces, the "Big Easy" autumn trend, as M&S is calling it, comprises minimalist, transitional items that will slot into your wardrobe as easily as your foot will slide into one of its Gucci-inspired backless loafers this season. Highlights include a Céline-ish white shirt dress with an exposed seam, a lovely pair of wide-legged cream denim sailor pants with the requisite on-trend raw edge, and a black maxi dress with rust-coloured top stitching.
It's a neat strategy. In recent years, the M&S press day has become something of an event, garnering the kind of column inches that other high-street brands can only wish for. The frenzy often leads to random pieces of clothing becoming proper nouns - see: The Pink Coat, The Suede Skirt - and garnering waiting lists comprising hundreds of customers who are all presumably baffled to learn they must wait another three months for the hallowed brown Seventies-inspired suede skirt that Alexa Chung's currently sassing around in to actually reach them. By releasing part of their autumn collection six months early, M&S can capitalise on the press coverage and better serve their customers.
What, then, from the rest of the autumn collection, is worth waiting until September for? A navy pleated skirt with a silver metallic tag on the hip neatly picks up on the clean, modernist aesthetic that characterises a lot of stylish women's wardrobes. A tawny utility skirt, complete with chunky pockets and coal black buttons, is on the money for work and play. So too a green velvet double-breasted blazer, which is smart but hangs slouchily, and a Gucci-style black and emerald printed midi-dress.
The outerwear is particularly strong. A leopard-print faux-fur coat with a Sixties collar in the Per Una range drew admiring glances; a lovely Prada-esque tweedy coat with embellished shoulders looked more expensive than its £100 price tag; and an Autograph camel coat with a silver metal detail on the hip would bolster any woman's wardrobe.
Will it be enough to entice the M&S woman back into store? Lord knows it needs to. In April it was revealed that clothing and homeware sales dropped 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. As M&S's new chief executive Steve Rowe said at the time: "We've not been as stylish as we need to be, not had the availability and need to make sure we have the right product at the right price." At least the see-now, buy-now segment of this autumn collection will tick the "at the right time" box.
Regardless, the mood at M&S headquarters is resolutely upbeat. The Archive by Alexa collection, which hit stores in early April, has performed well across the board, with several pieces selling out. Despite the headache-inducing overall clothing downturn, sales in its Autograph collection were up 10 per cent. And Queralt Ferrer, the Spanish director of design for womenswear, lingerie and beauty is committed to creating waiting-list-worthy pieces. "There is pressure, of course, but we don't set out thinking: 'What is going to get everyone talking?'," she says, when we discuss The Suede Skirt furore. "We want to design pieces that reference a trend but are strong in their own right, as well as something that is super wearable."
Customers will need to cherry-pick, says Ferrer. "Trends are becoming less important. And we are trying to relax our handwriting of the trend. Instead of thinking, it has to be this look, this length, this size, we try to relax." Trends, Ferrer says, can be alienating for customers. "People switch off. They think, 'I'm not into Seventies', or 'That trend is not me'. The aim is to mix and match clothes. We are not so focused on one trend, one catwalk - we look at street style, we want to interpret things in our own way."
That's all very well, but then why persist with a huge number of diffusion lines - Per Una, Autograph, Best of British, Limited Edition - when other big names, including Burberry and Calvin Klein, are streamlining operations? What women want is easy, stress-free shopping that doesn't require constant self-analysis. If M&S is to become a go-to once more, it needs to keep things simple.
What, then, from the rest of the autumn collection, is worth waiting until September for? A navy pleated skirt with a silver metallic tag on the hip neatly picks up on the clean, modernist aesthetic that characterises a lot of stylish women's wardrobes. A tawny utility skirt, complete with chunky pockets and coal black buttons, is on the money for work and play. So too a green velvet double-breasted blazer, which is smart but hangs slouchily, and a Gucci-style black and emerald printed midi-dress.
The outerwear is particularly strong. A leopard-print faux-fur coat with a Sixties collar in the Per Una range drew admiring glances; a lovely Prada-esque tweedy coat with embellished shoulders looked more expensive than its £100 price tag; and an Autograph camel coat with a silver metal detail on the hip would bolster any woman's wardrobe.
Not surprisingly, in a season where heritage fabrics were such a big story, M&S's Best of British offering is particularly strong for winter. The stand-outs? A workwear-blue trench coat, a pinstripe midi-dress and a thick tweed grey great coat - there's lots here for the fashion fan enamoured with Prada's tweeds and DKNY's suiting.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the M&S bra, and to celebrate, a Seventies triangle style is revived from the archives. The style was selected because a) it's a shape that's trending now, and b) because it was the first style that hit one million in sales. Other highlights in the offering include Flexi Fit knickers with 360-degree stretch, and a growing athleisure category with plenty of sumptuous cashmere blends.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the M&S bra, and to celebrate, a Seventies triangle style is revived from the archives. The style was selected because a) it's a shape that's trending now, and b) because it was the first style that hit one million in sales. Other highlights in the offering include Flexi Fit knickers with 360-degree stretch, and a growing athleisure category with plenty of sumptuous cashmere blends.
Will it be enough to entice the M&S woman back into store? Lord knows it needs to. In April it was revealed that clothing and homeware sales dropped 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. As M&S's new chief executive Steve Rowe said at the time: "We've not been as stylish as we need to be, not had the availability and need to make sure we have the right product at the right price." At least the see-now, buy-now segment of this autumn collection will tick the "at the right time" box.
Regardless, the mood at M&S headquarters is resolutely upbeat. The Archive by Alexa collection, which hit stores in early April, has performed well across the board, with several pieces selling out. Despite the headache-inducing overall clothing downturn, sales in its Autograph collection were up 10 per cent. And Queralt Ferrer, the Spanish director of design for womenswear, lingerie and beauty is committed to creating waiting-list-worthy pieces. "There is pressure, of course, but we don't set out thinking: 'What is going to get everyone talking?'," she says, when we discuss The Suede Skirt furore. "We want to design pieces that reference a trend but are strong in their own right, as well as something that is super wearable."
Customers will need to cherry-pick, says Ferrer. "Trends are becoming less important. And we are trying to relax our handwriting of the trend. Instead of thinking, it has to be this look, this length, this size, we try to relax." Trends, Ferrer says, can be alienating for customers. "People switch off. They think, 'I'm not into Seventies', or 'That trend is not me'. The aim is to mix and match clothes. We are not so focused on one trend, one catwalk - we look at street style, we want to interpret things in our own way."
That's all very well, but then why persist with a huge number of diffusion lines - Per Una, Autograph, Best of British, Limited Edition - when other big names, including Burberry and Calvin Klein, are streamlining operations? What women want is easy, stress-free shopping that doesn't require constant self-analysis. If M&S is to become a go-to once more, it needs to keep things simple.
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