Bella Freud x Marks & Spencer- Will you be shopping the collection?

[Britpopbaby]

I’m liking the scarf and blouse.

I always think of Yaourt Nature

Nature is the French word for nature.

Has anyone seen Hideous Kinky with Kate winslet? That was based on bella and Esther's childhood. It's an odd film iirc.

I ordered the black blue sky jumper in xl and the cricket jumper in beige in large. Both fit well. Am 14to 16. They're both lovely items.

Yes I saw Hideous Kinky on the telly a few years ago. The two children were delightful but I hadn't realised it was based on Bella's family. If only half of it was real she had a pretty mad time of it as a child. Interesting that her clothes are really quite sober considering that chaotic, hippyish upbringing.

(That's assuming this collection is typical, I don't know much about her other stuff other than the odd slogan.)

I think having a chaotic bringing makes you want to design quite sensible, sober clothes – there was a blur on the M&S website about how she was upset when her progressive school abolished school uniform

True!

I bought the size 12 regular pinstriped jacket and trousers. The 10 jacket would have fitted better and I’m not keeping one without the other.

It’s an amazing suit though. If I could have bought the size 10 jacket and two pairs of 12 trousers easily I would have. It’s the sort of thing M&S should stock anyway.

I was just going to take them back to the store on Monday but a friend said I should sell them on EBay for a profit. That seems a bit mean and tbh I just want my money back!

So … having received an email saying my stuff was coming in Wednesday have now been told the order’s cancelled as the items are out of stock. Poor M&S - they know they’ll get returns so why not keep the order alive until stock comes in again

Ooft, if this happens to me I'll be kicking up shit. Although, it might be saving me from myself as it means I'll probably only keep the Nature jumper and save myself a fortune.

@Hamsterdamn I've been watching some of the items on Vinted and they're all getting discounted now, so they must not be as in demand as people expected. Personally I'd just return to store, a lot less hassle!

Thanks @piccolorhinoceros I’m glad you think so. They’re going back via the store on Monday. I go past it on my way to work so it’s easier than posting.

A friend used to work for Bella, so have a good collection of knitwear, candles and a other bits and pieces. Even so, am not a huge Bella fan, so wasn't expecting to want anything. However, I surprised myself buying the Divine Feminine tote bag. Love a tote bag, so know I will use this a lot.

Am a little amused/bemused by some of this thread, particularly those whom don't seem to recognise Bella's house codes or confuse trends with style. The collection is a perfect distillation of Bella's aesthetic and products, not to mention things she's most noted for - logo sweaters. Pinstripe suiting is timeless, a true classic, not a trend. It's also a ubiquitous part of Bella's aesthetic, so of course it was going to be part of the collection. Additionally, I realise it's a question of semantics, but a pussy bow blouse is not the same as a shirt with a tie. The latter has louche, rive gauche connotations, the former 80s/Tory bride vibes!

Pretentious, moi?

@Seagall Moi? Non 😂

But I do know clothing and have worked in and around the fashion industry for decades.

That's a good point @bunnybunnybunnybunny .
The it's not meant to be high fashion but a more accessible BF style.

The MandS nay-sayers will dismiss anything from the retailer as frumpy.

So have I, but even I don't call designers by their first name only!

@KirstenBlest Thank you!

What much of Mumsnet seems to forget is that designer collaborations with high street stores are about bringing a sprinkle of the designer's most infamous looks to the masses high street.

These collabs aren't designed for the casual shopper but for those who are fans of the brand. If M&S were expecting more sales, the collab would be available in all stores rather than a few.

Well, I usually refer to designers by their last name. However, her name is Bella Freud, and have always called her Bella rather than Freud as to me, there is only one Freud - Sigmund. As an aside, and even at art school, we referred to the painter as Lucian, rather than Lucian Freud or Freud.

(And in my defence, I have met her a few times, and never once called her Freud. If I really had wanted to be pretentious, my aforementioned friend was actually a consultant, but that felt pretentious, and why I wrote my friend worked for her when in actual fact she consulted 😂)

It would appeal to me because it's 'designer' and because it is M& S. It's probably the collaboration that has appealed to me the most.

I like a lot of M& S clothes.

I wanted the cricket jumper in a 14 but when I went on there was only the one that looked like a highlighter pen. Now everything has gone!

M&S hung the heavy cricket jumpers on normal hangers. It gave the jumpers awful bulges in the shoulder arm area and make them look misshapen and cheap.

I think the whole collection looks like it's providing the wardrobe for Sex Education (TV series)

Absolutely LIVID, they've cancelled my order. I did click and collect because I thought there was less chance of a big £400 order going missing, but nope. They've lost it! So I'm not getting the jeans or the Blue Sky jumper 🙁

I feel your pain. Deeply unimpressive to say items are in stock when they're not - and as I said earlier also not to have some method of allocating returns, which will be arriving in droves and they must anticipate with an algorithm, for the people who are disappointed.

Say cheeky mooses advertising the blazer for £360 on Vinted. Who would fall for that?

The most annoying thing is they were in stock, I placed the order at 8.08am on Thursday and it shipped. They've lost it somewhere en route. I called customer services to ask if they could get the stock from stores, as I can see some stores have stock but not near me. They were completely unhelpful! She offered to check online... Like I've not already done that. Well, this collab has fallen flat for me. I might keep the two jumpers I actually got, but it'll make me less likely to shop in M&S again. Which is a shame.

totally sympathise, according to the website they were in stock when I ordered too – then I heard they’d been cancelled because they were out of stock, so they clearly miscalculated supplies. Poor