With a lineup that references 90s minimalism and Isabel Marant, M&S is about to unveil its most fashion-led look for years. Will it turn the store's fortunes around?
A "hero piece" is a fashion term for the one seasonal item that can pull your wardrobe out of the doldrums. This is usually hyperbole – except, perhaps, in the case of Marks & Spencer.
Last week, when M&S released disappointing results showing a fall of 1.3% in sales between July and September compared with the same period last year, bosses were quick to point out that the first fashion range to be masterminded by ex-Jaeger boss Belinda Earl was only on sale for the last three weeks of that period.
In other words, the famous £85 pink coat, the breakout star of the M&S autumn collection, may yet save Marc Bolland's bacon.
Earl's second collection, unveiled to the press this week and scheduled to "drop" from January, makes it clear that M&S is pinning its hopes on fashion more than ever. Influences from the catwalk are stronger than they have been in years. A silk bomber jacket emblazoned with Japanese-style herons looks like a nod to the Jonathan Saunders bombers that flew straight from his London fashion week show to every fashionable wish-list. And – canny, this, because fashion's lines of succession no longer run only from catwalk to high street – the high profile of Isabel Marant, thanks to the hype around the H&M diffusion line, is represented by a shrug-on, paisley-print casual jacket (£59), which nods to the £199 beaded jacket in the about-to-launch H&M Isabel Marant collection– a smart move, since only a tiny proportion of shoppers will get their hands on the H&M Marant pieces they want.
Meanwhile, a voluminous, quilted, drop-waisted, sleeveless dress seems to echo the "cloud" dress that Victoria Beckham made the best-known piece in her diffusion collection, when she wore it herself, hot off her New York catwalk. (Differences include the neckline, and the £45 M&S pricetag.)
The M&S customer wants fashion. When Earl showed her first collection in May, she was keen to focus on the upgrade in manufacturing quality and shopping experience – but press and consumers picked up, instead, on the Céline-esque pink coats and the JW Anderson-ish windowpane checks.
"Our customer wants fashion, and it is important that we show that we are confident in our expression of fashion," says Earl. "We need to demonstrate to her that we at M&S are part of fashion." One of Earl's shopfloor changes has been to introduce more dressed mannequins, to break up the racks of clothing and suggest outfit ideas. "They have been incredibly successful," says head of design Neil Hendy. "We keep having to re-style them, because whatever we put on the mannequins sells out." The M&S Christmas advert has a notably high fashion content this year – the standout line, after all, is Helena Bonham Carter complimenting Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on her shoes.
As it happens, next spring is a tricky season in which to depend on catwalk trends to get cash tills ringing. The fashion shows did not produce many trends that lend themselves to an easy sell. Many of the trends are abstract and intellectual. A vogue for "avant blande" and deliberate understatement; a revival of 90s minimalism; a craze for prints inspired by street or abstract art – none of these are box-office gold in the way that, say, "50s sex kitten" or "power dressing in pastels" would be. But Earl and her team have made a clear decision to back fashion rather than fall back on "timeless classics".
The most prominent colour on the M&S shopfloor next season will be white. Usually thought of as impractical and unflattering, it is a bold choice for a brand that must dress women of all shapes and sizes – and whose customers have high expectations of longevity and durability from their purchases. A long-line pencil skirt with a woven texture has a high waistline, so that it can be worn with a matching waist-length sweater to make a modern two-piece suit. The too-cool-for-school 90s minimalism look is also surprisingly strongly represented, in lean cutaway dungarees, several covetable sleeveless jackets and lightweight parkas, and a spaghetti-strap silver slip dress that resembles the Liza Bruce one worn famously bra-less and with black knickers by a young Kate Moss back in 1994.
But, just in case fashion proves not to be the knight in shining armour of the M&S story after all, Earl has a Plan B up her sleeve. A recurring theme of the collection is the summer coat. There is a notch-lapel version in mint, a subtle echo of that famous pink; an oversized lightweight grey tweed jacket; a smart lemon-yellow duster; and a British-made white trench. One of these is likely to appeal to every customer, at some point next spring. When all else fails, you can always rely on the unreliability of the British weather.