M&S: sort your necklines and sleeves lengths!

[Marenostrum]

I was looking for a t-shirt for my mother in M&S and all I could find was low necklines and these dreaded cap sleeves which do nothing for anybody over the age of 30 and cut your arm in the most unflattering way if you are carrying extra weight. Now I am not saying M&S is only for middle-aged and older women but surely they make up for a large portion of their customers so shouldn't their designs reflect that? Without falling into frumpsville preferably. I was inspired by an earlier thread entitled "perhaps M&S would make money if...". Indeed.

I was in M&S yesterday and their designs have definitely gone downhill since a few years ago. I love their Per Una jeans as they fit my fat curvy body shape but the rest of the clothes didn't catch my eye at all.

I completely agree about sleeves and would like to add that they are often short.- I end up buying men'S tshirts instead to get length and sleeves, which are then tight on the hips! Grr.

They have a new style director.

Belinda Earl

There is so much wrong at the moment. She'll have a lot to get her teeth into!

Also, their T-shirts are too short in the body. I have quite a short body and I have given up on M&S T-shirts because they always end up creeping up and exposing my midriff, and believe me, that is not a body part I want to share with anyone.

I walked around M&S the other today, loudly proclaiming that they needed a new designer. Maybe somebody heard me? :)

It irritates me that they get things so, so wrong. There are few shops that make decent quality at reasonable prices but M&S was always one of them. Now however, there is probably only one thing every two or three months that I'd actually want to wear, and even then I often have to alter the shoulders or pin the top to my bra so that i don't flash my 32Es to everyone.

I still rate their knickers (three for a tenner) and skinny jeans but that's it.

They shoould stick to doing a decent range of basics in sensible colours:

• camisoles that are not see through and cover the tummy
• good quality t-shirts in black, grey, white, navy with a selection of necklines and sleeve lengths
• decent jeans
• underwear
• cardigans and jumpers in sensible colours (ie not baby blue) and in cotton/woool/silk mix NOT 'cashmillon' fgs
• basic jersey dresses in non-frump lengths

I have spoken...

Adding my view too... Their clothes are so badly proportioned.
All tops are short and wide across all ranges, women,men and children.

Their girls vests are longer than their school shirts.
Their tights (girls and women) only fit if you have very very short legs. And very fat ankles (I mean, whose ankles are the same width as their thighs?)

Their swim suits would only fit a petite body length if then.

Their jeans either do up on your pelvic bone OR above your belly button, there is no in between.
The pockets on the jeans bottom are positioned too high and are too small so all you see is a huge expanse of arse. Made worse because all of their tops float somewhere above your belly button.

They are incapable of consistency. No 100% cotton school cardys IN GREY.
They put polyester in everything.
Just yuk.

M&S seem to specialise in the most unflattering sleeve lengths. The one that makes my heart sink is the 'almost elbow length' that stops about 2cm above your elbow - instant frumpitude. I got a gorgeous wrap dress in the sale, but it had those sleeves, and I only kept it with the mental proviso that I'd buy a fine-knit cardigan to wear over it at all times.

Agree 100% with the cap sleeved t-shirts too. Hideous. Maybe their whole sleeve policy is designed to prop up their knitwear/cardigan sales?