Alexa for Marks and Spencer

[Neveradullm0ment]

Have you seen the clothes? On news websites

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

If the stupid designers made it in black it would be fine, armpit wise!

[SirChenjin]

That is true! See - they should just bloody ask MN, we'd reverse their downturn overnight.

[BestIsWest]

I liked those trousers Remus linked to but apparently you can't be size 20 and need longer length trousers.

[Woodhill]

The broiderie anglaise blouse looks lovely but in the flesh it's really boxy and it didn't appeal to me.

Silk tops make me really sweaty. I don't really understand why as it is a natural fabric

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I quite like a silk shirt for a Spring/Autumn/Winter night out. Too sweaty for summer.

Shame about the bluse, Woodhill. So annoying that they persist in the crazy belief that boxy is always a good thing.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

blouse

[Floisme]

I went to look round today for the first time in ages. I wanted to try on the culottes and jumper that niminy had linked along with several things I'd spotted on the website. It was payday so I had a bit of cash to splash.

Not one of the items I had seen was in stock. Not one. I didn't see anything of yours either, Remus.

There were about 4 rails of Autograph stuff. Four rails, in a large (if not affluent) city centre where professional women work. Acres of space for Per Una though.

So I've come full circle and I'm back to grumpiness

[niminypiminy]

That is utter pants (and not well fitting, long-lasting ones either).

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Grrr to acres of PU.

[herecomesthsun]

I used to go to the branch in Islington in the early 90s and buy lovely food and rather good underwear to cheer myself of a weekend, after I had just started working. The Marble Arch flagship branch was liable to stock bargain items listed as must haves in the style magazines.

[Floisme]

Who exactly is buying Per Una?

And if you try telling me it's 60+ year olds I shall come round and bash you with a rolled up copy of Grazia.

[SirChenjin]

Per Una is specifically targeted at the 59 year old woman Flo - I read it somewhere...

[Floisme]

[ephemeralfairy]

On one of the other M&S threads a poster described Per Una as being worn by 'someone who once got told they looked like Nancy Dell'Olio and took it as a compliment'. That sums it up PERFECTLY.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

[Woodhill]

I buy per una trousers as they fit me but don't like anything else

[Talisin]

Confession. I have just bought a Per Una dress. Worse, it's a Speziale one but it's lovely and really suits me. I am just going to have to lie through my teeth if I'm ever asked where it came from.

[Orangeanddemons]

Wood hill, it's the shape of the fibre that makes it sweaty. It's an angular shaped fibre, and because of this it sits closer to the skin than flatter fibres like cotton or linen. Although cotton is actually twisted but that's another story...

[SirChenjin]

Talisan - I'm afraid MN is not the place for you. The door is that way -->

[Floisme]

To be fair, I think Per Una used to be one of their best selling ranges but I can't believe it still is. The stuff they had out the other day wasn't even Nancy Dell'Olio. It was just frowsy and and droopy and really quite depressing.

[SirChenjin]

It's true..I used to buy Per Una jeans way back when and they were great. A lot of their stuff was v wearable but now it's just a jumble of buttons, ribbon and awful patterns.

[BestIsWest]

I remember when Per Una was first introduced they had some lovely stuff. I still have some pretty wrap tops from the nineties that I would wear if I was slim enough one day

Not sure when it became so frilly.

However, they are still do or two things. I bought a Per Una burgundy biker jacket last year which is lovely. Granted it's not leather but it feels and looks good.

[Floisme]

Yup I can remember finding good things in Per Una too, before it went all Johnnie-Boden-on-drugs. But now it doesn't even seem that frilly any more. It's just very, very dreary.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I tried two things on today.

The denim A line mini I linked to earlier - disaster. It wasn't A line - it was tight and pencil skirtish at the front and had a horrible sticky out back. Far too long for a mini for me too. Hideous.

A grey jumper on the sale rail, from the Autograph range. I'm a size 12. I tried on a size 12. You could have fit 12 of me inside it. Shame, as I really liked it.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I told the assistant about the ridiculously big size 12 jumper and she just shrugged and put it back on the rail.