Another M&S thread...

[QueenoftheAndals]

I was scrolling through reviews of their autumn collection and thinking some pieces were nice, and then I came to this outfit. Who in their right mind thinks women would wear that??

[bialystockandbloom]

Jeepers!

[QueenoftheAndals]

Here's a more complete review of the new collection by Vogue, but is it just me who's often thought "oh that looks nice" when viewing it on the website, but when I've picked up the piece in store found that it doesn't look anywhere as nice in person?

[newdocket]

OMG. I am speechless.

[Spudlet]

I was about to start a rant thread of my own, but since you've so kindly done so already op....

What. The. Fuckity Fucking Fuck, M&S?

I am one of the people you should be targeting, you guys! I'm coming up to 35, currently a SAHM to a toddler, thinking of perhaps adding a baby to the mix in a year. I need you! I need decent quality basics that will wash well, at a sensible price, on an easy to navigate website. I need jeans with a high waist so I don't flash my backside to the playgroup when I have to dive under the crafts table after ds. I need tips that will stand up to being washed after a snot incident. I need clothes that will help me to feel good about the saggy tummy that Giant Baby Spudlet bequeathed to me. I need to be able to grab these things off your website in naptime.

You knew what I don't need, M&S? Statement fucking sleeves. Because the only statement they'll make for me is 'Who knew that much vomit could get caught in a frill?' I don't need massive yellow deck chair stripes. I want my son's first word to be 'Mummy', not 'Punch and Judy'. And I need you to take PayPal! FFS! Or you know what will happen? I'll trawl through your site to unearth these things that I need then drop out of the transaction because my son has hidden my purse again and I don't have time to waste finding it, then I'll go to H&M and buy the same stuff, plus more stuff because the similar items they suggest are in stock, and use PayPal and buy it from them.

I want to give you money, M&S, but you are making it so hard!

Yours,

A Mum who will go back to work one day soon, but who probably won't get her work clothes from you.

[YouWouldntLetItLie]

Oh, God. I like the big jumpers, but 90% of that is wacktacular. If it's not making you itch, it'll be making you sweat. I give up.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Oh fgs.

WHY do they do this to themselves every season? Why?

M&S - read my lips:
Give us some lovely basics in a range of lengths, good fabrics and a range of good colours (I can show you what good colours are, if you're struggling).

Leave the stupid fucking polyester patterned crap alone.

That is all.

[YouWouldntLetItLie]

I just don't understand WHERE and HOW you're meant to wear half those clothes. I just don't. Flat-front tight tweed trouser suits? Clingy satin midi length dresses with pompom sandals? Strange clashy pink jumpers and jack boots? All modelled on supermodel-style girls barely out of their teens, doing that thousand yard stare so beloved of M&S stylists and sitting at funny angles.

And that's what compounds the irritation factor of not being able to buy stuff I want - my so-called reliable friend since my teens, M&S, doesn't think I'm 'fashion forward' enough to shop there.

[Ponks]

Um. Actually I like most of the coats and jackets on that link.

[YouWouldntLetItLie]

Yes, the coats get a pass - M&S are at their best in AW, because of the coat factor. I saw the tartan one in a different press release and had a fleeting, Oh, maybe...? moment. I bet the teddy bear coat feels gorgeous on but will make me look like the love child of Madame Cholet and Bungle in real life

[Floisme]

I like the coats and jackets too Ponks. They always throw in a few silly outfits for the fashion press but the basics look as if they might actually be promising, especially the tweedy stuff. The dresses are a bit too frou frou for my taste but I'm bored with dresses anyway.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I would welcome them returning to doing good trouser suits and skirt suits again, but it so depends on the fabric.

[YouWouldntLetItLie]

Actually, I'm going to recant on the models too. For once, they're pretty age appropriate for M&S. And I do like the jumpers.

(Still not buying that 'mad ruffly sleeve spilling out of coat sleeve' look, though. It looks so irritating.)

[LouiseBrooks]

I work opposite an M&S and often go in to buy my lunch. Every single day I see horrors of the kind above. They are getting as bad as Laura Ashley (and that's another thread in waiting - why are LA clothes so awful yet their furniture and bedlinen is so nice?)

The coats are good yes, and I have two from there, but a lot of the other stuff is terrible. The quality of much of it is dire too, compared to the past. In my younger days (ie 10 years ago) I bought quite a few suits from M&S and they were really good quality. Now most of them are really shoddy and I have to bankrupt myself going to places like Hobbs to get something that isn't shiny after a season..

[IJustLostTheGame]

I like the checked coat and the jumpers

Well, I like them in the picture. Whether I'd like them in real life however.....