I used to like M&S but I'm not surprised they are struggling to sell womens clothes, WARNING MAY BE UPSETTING

[Behooven]

Says it all...

It's just adding another layer of confusion. Even if Alexa Chung's collection is brilliant. They need to stop throwing quick fixes at the problem and fix it properly from the bottom up.

100% agree with you CauliflowerBalti.

I don't think getting people like Alexa Chung in to design a range will do much for the brand of M&S.

What worked in the past for M&S? - Designing affordable clothes that were decent quality (didn't cause static) that fitted well and that were basic essentials.

Their tshirts/trousers just aren't cutting it anymore. They are too short in the body and they don't wash well either.

I don't want frills. I don't want bows. I don't want glitter or sparkles on my clothes. I want clean lines. I want style without gaudy. I want a spectrum of colours and sizes too but nothing day-glo (unless it's sports wear and it's a jacket or similar).

We're not looking for these things to be cheap. Neither should they cost the earth. They should be affordable clothes. Quality clothes.

Getting Alexa Chung in just sounds like they are desperately afraid of having a frumpy image and are trying to borrow some cool.

It's like, 'we can't be plain and boring Add more (pie crust) frills! Add more flounces! Sprinkle glitter everywhere!'

They're trying to be fashionable when they ought be trying to be stylish. Chung was the wearer of last year's brown suede skirt which had fashion types swooning but wasn't the most flattering garment for those of with, y'know hips and an arse!

Like others have said, smacks of tokenism to me. The rest of the store will be polyester, sparkly, ugh.

Alexa Chung has style, but she's not a designer, totally different.

Smacks of desperation - copying other stores like Debenhams with their designer ranges, without actually addressing the real issue which is that their womenswear needs to be overhauled from top to bottom. And all of their current designers need to be fired. (Apart from Jaeger lady who did produce some OK things).

It looks like what they have done is link Alexa to some of their archived designs "M&S rediscovered". A clever idea I think, but if the pink pie crust frill blouse Alexa is wearing on the promo pic on the website is an example of what has been rediscovered I will give it a swerve.

Pink pie crust blouse? Good grief.

Well, I'm in need of a little black cardigan. Nothing fussy. Just neat and not too long.

I could have got a viscose one from M&S for £25. Everything on the website was synthetic. Pretty depressing.
Instead, I've ordered a rather sweet supima cotton one from Landsend for £20. I'll get a lot more wear out of it because it'll be more comfortable over a t-shirt on chilly summer days than viscose or acrylic - and it'll probably last until the summer without pilling.

Agree they should slash the range they offer by about 80%.
Basics in a good range of colours.

Don't re-invent the wheel all the time. There are countless reviews by people (en masse) who have found the 'perfect xxxx' and then it gets changed for the worse.
More natural fabrics.
Lose the frills, bows and glitter (for adults)
Don't offer so much black
Make things longer

I'd rather they just did a nice range. I don't believe for one moment that Alexa will actually have designed it and I'd rather she just got a modelling fee if they want her to market it a bit thanks. I look nothing like Alexa Chung and it's not going to sell it to me although an archive based range is very appealing to me, someone who's basically famous for being famous is not.

Just make some nice clothes FGS M&S and stop with all the crap! Call it Archive or something, bung it next to Autograph and have done with it. I'm 40 years old, I don't care what Alexa is wearing - she's paid bazillions for doing fuck all and I'd rather she didn't exist.

If M&S still don't know where they've gone wrong after all this feedback then they deserve to go under

That piecrust blouse is fucking vile, overfussy and fugly. It looks like it might be cotton, mind, so perhaps it will sell to menopausal women who are fed up of melting in polyester (a pool I'm starting to dip my toe in).

www.instagram.com/p/BBXTs2oAJTm/?tagged=archivebyalexa

This thing?? Looks like a princess Diana top before she decided to stop having the clothes wear her.

www.marksandspencer.com/roma-rise-embelished-slim-leg-denim-jeans/p/p60073343?image=RC_01_T62_8827K_Y0_X_EC_90&color=BLACK&prevPage=plp

why would anyone want to buy these? There were some other jeans in the sale that looked OK, but the website wouldn't let me choose a colour.

And it would be great if your changing room assistant in Bath could be told not to pull back the curtain when someone is changing in a cubicle. Maybe they do that in the country she was brought up in, but not in Bath

Alexa Chung isn't just relatable to me. She is so so so so thin. Not body-shaming or criticising - we all come in different shapes and sizes, we work with what we are given. But she is an extreme of an extreme of an extreme, and in that Instagram photo I can't get past the TININESS of her to even develop an opinion of the shirt. I am wondering how her shoulders support her head - the collar is incidental.

I guess it is indicative of the market they are chasing.

I don't understand hiring Alexa Chung either. I'd have gone for Jane Birkin.

Yes Jane Birkin a far better icon for what they should be doing.

Then again, have you seen the Twiggy range? Horrendous. Don't believe for a second she wears it in RL.

I can only see some jeggings and a couple of jackets in the Twiggy range - inoffensive but they're not going to lure me in.

Jane Birkin on the other hand, did a collection for La Redoute a few years ago and it looked so cool, I nearly converted to pale grey.

I got an email detailing "just landed" or something like that . My first picture was khaki looking trousers which you would have to be size6 to look good in . I cant link ,but put in product code T690435K to see what I mean . I really want to shop at Marks but with scalloped hems and bulky trousers ,I am struggling.

yy to appallingly rude and unhelpful staff.
Also, that most of us look nothing like Alexa Chung. Most pp have said the clothes have no waist, but I find they've too much waist! So who are they designing for? Maybe they could remeasure and have an apple range and a pear range?
I really liked the jumpsuit upthread (disclaimer: didn't look closely) but I would be too tall to wear it and presumably shorter folks would feel swamped?

Apple and pear ranges would be great. It's such a basic difference in fitting but shops seem to ignore it completely and it's a cause of much frustration.

Those khaki trousers are like the ones you see in clothing brochures for pensioners that fall out of the weekend papers.

Hourglass fit would be good too - some recognition that not everyone has average sized boobs and, yes, we would like to be able to wear a dress that doesn't look like sack (because we always have to size up for our knockers).

Have looked at the photos of Alexa - it's one item and I don't want to judge the whole collection on it but I hate it.

1. It looks like it needs a lot of ironing. I don't have the time. I'd never wear it.

1. It suits the very slim. News flash - most UK women do not look like Alexa - they have boobs. They will look shit in this.

1. Spare a thought for anyone in healthcare - all my work stuff has to abide by 'bare below the elbows'. Even outside of healthcare, it's not going to work for anyone using a pen. I'm sure Alexa has people to do that for her.

Looks like I'm still shopping in Debenhams then.

Ha, it's not just Mumsnetters who aren't impressed with M&S or Alexa Chung. Have a look below the fawning Guardian article at the comments - it's like reading this thread!

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/feb/04/alexa-chung-to-collaborate-with-marks-spencer-stylewatch

Come on M&S, can you really not see what you are doing wrong???