What do you think of M and S's new range Portfolio? for 45+

[samsonara]

here,
"
The Portfolio range will comprise "essentials" for M&S's core womenswear shopper and will be the first new brand the retailer has launched in four and a half years.

An M&S spokeswoman said Portfolio will be designed to target middle-aged, fashion-conscious females such as Cherie Lunghi, the actress and Strictly Come Dancing contestant. Bostock said it will be positioned between Per Una and Classics."

Erm, sorry I can't see Cherie Lungi in that stuff can you? Dissapointed really, 40 is the new 30 isn't it? So why all those old fashioned skirts? The dresses are ok, so simple styled stuff is fine but on the whole it's just per una and classics under the same name?

Seriously - a jumpsuit?

aksherly that jumpsuit would probably look fab on me

Chin up, girls.

The collection has clearly been designed by a 23 year old, raised in some strange, Logan's Run-type commune, who has been asked to design a collection, based only on what s/he has gleaned from reading a collection of dog-eared Joanna Trollope and Barbara Pym novels. S/he has never actually met a 45 year old woman. We are exotic and fantastical beasts to him/her.

Would you do any better if you were asked to design a cardigan for a hippogryph?

ggirl - I just can't get my head around a range that includes those skirts, and that jumpsuit - anyone who wore one would be very unlikely to wear the other, don't you think?

will be my new schoolrun outfit dahling

I would be a little taken aback by a jumpsuit on the school run

Unfortunately, after many years of having a waist, I am now the (slightly bemused) owner of a (small?) spare tyre.

Even so, I completely endorse the "shoot me now" sentiment. On models these clothes look hideous - how on earth do they think they will sell?

We may be (peri)menapausal but we're not blind.

Oh, I also think peruna is vile. What's with the flouncy skirts and the ruffles?

The skirts are so hideous, the length is awful, they should be illegal.

I know I am a long way off of the target market as I am in my early 20s but I wasn't informed that you are supposed to turn your sexuality off at 45? Is THAT what I have to look forward to fashion wise when I reach my forties?

Eurgh, M&S, get some decent designers with some original ideas.

I can just hear them in the boardroom selling the range to the suits

"and Susan from Guildford has been invited to Julies for a dinner party ..the jumpsuit solves all those anxieties about what to wear...comfy yet stylish and hides all those nasy lumps and bumps"

The skirts actually make me feel nauseous.

All the clothes remind me of something... something... it will come to me in a minute.....

1950s

ggirl - Meanwhile the young designer-serfs were smirking about Jaqueline Suzanne and wife-swapping in Surbiton.

Oh dear. Oh deary dear.

Quite a lot of it looks OK to me. But then I am a churchwarden - well on the Parish Church Council anyway. 'For that Anglican sense of style' is clearly the slogan they need. (Exclusive? As in, available in M&S? What are they like?)

fuddy or what?!! crap colours, crap styles and crap materials ....who is going to wear bl**dy tencel jeans?

Has anyone noticed that the "accessories" consist of a dull black handbag and 10 silk scarves to tie round the neck?

Are women over 45 considered so hideous that they must cover ever bit of their body? Wouldn't it be easier to just wear a duvet cover all day?

I'm M&S's No. 1 shopper (I know I'm a saddo, my friends tell me all the time!) but I think this new range is aimed at older women. Where are the per una range is for us young'ens, this is for older women.

Per Una for young uns? Eh? You have to be at least 60 to wear Per Una. Tis the law.

per una is crapola though my mum likes it and she 75!

ggirl i take offence at the slur upon guildford!!!!

HAHA! I read that comment to my DP who always calls me an old lady for shopping in M&S - he found it highly amusing.

If anyone goes instore, please report back and tell us if the instore range is any better, I'm assuming they have more than they have shown online.

They even say something like this(online telegraph article from last year)
"
It's a tough job, though: these women are used to great cut, quality and individuality in their clothes, and probably dislike nothing more than being stereotyped.

This is a generation of independent-minded women who know their style and would rather save their money than compromise. "

so er..if that was the style brief, what the F-ster went wrong?

zebraa- but you are only 26 !!!!!!

Haha!

Urgh I do hate stuff like that (from torygraph hastily rewritten press release article).

I wonder if they have a range for 'independent-minded men'.

Just wondering if OP - Samsonara - is rather close to M&S??

Whtatever, this collection totally misses the point for a 40 something woman, - it reminds her what her aunt looked like 25 years ago and what she doesn't want to grow into!

No daffodill6, definately not, nothing to do with M and S, I'm 41 though, I only like stuff from their Autograph range and limited edition. I only found out they had the new range as they sent an email and then I looked it up under google to see what it was about and got the info I included from that.