Memo to M&S: You're trying to be too cool (and Twiggy on a luxury yacht just doesn’t work)

By Liz Jones



Role models? VV Brown, Dannii Minogue and Twiggy


A strange group of women are on holiday. There are very few children, and only the occasional man. The women are desperately trying to look as though they are having fun as they pose awkwardly on yachts.

This is the latest, hugely expensive (shot in Miami) ad campaign for Marks & Spencer, showcasing its summer holiday wear. And despite the glossy locations, the pools and the yachts, it is cringeworthy in its naffness. It is enough to make you decide NOT to go to Marks for that printed, floaty kaftan.

Which is apparently exactly what has been happening. Despite the £72 million advertising budget, UK like for like sales only grew by 0.1%.


It’s a shame, because when Twiggy was first recruited as a face of M&S in 2005 she did wonders for their flagging sales. But things have changed and I, for one, have fallen a little out of love with Marks & Spencer over the past few months.

And the sight of model turned DJ Lisa Snowdon annoyingly hamming it up for the camera in the current advert is not the sole reason.

I think sales have slipped because M&S has tried to appeal to Everywoman. Which could have worked, if only Marks had taken the premise further.

Never mind yacht frolickers Twiggy, Dannii Minogue, a pop singer called V.V. Brown who I’ve never heard of, and a Brazilian supermodel — where is the bigger woman on that boat, or the woman in her 70s? Ignore them at your peril.

Brazilian bombshell Ana Beatriz Barros has the sort of body (emaciated torso, round breasts) that will alienate the typical M&S lingerie buyer and send her straight to the basement to bulk-buy tiramisu.

The only bigger woman in an M&S ad is Caroline Quentin, and she’s just selling food. Twiggy, much as I love her, looks barely over 40. Why not hire a woman with grey hair, wrinkles and oodles of elegance? They do exist.

But never mind the ad, it seems the clothes leave a lot to be desired. M&S this summer appears to have employed a scattergun approach: we are given Sexy Seventies, Retro Americana, Jungle, Military, Ethnic, Nautical, Modern Tribal, Fifties Prom, ooh, and let’s not forget Vintage!

In the flagship branch at Marble Arch there is so much choice, particularly in the Per Una pen, it is enough to give you a headache.

There is nothing wrong with the prices (£59 for a red-and-white nautical summer dress) or, on the whole, the fabrics (lots of pure linen). But this is a store that has set its sights on every fashion, every trend, in the hope you might like something.

What sane woman in her 60s would wear a horizontal-striped coat, as seen on Twiggy? The only lip service paid to bigger women are the drawstring waist, wide-legged linen trousers, the sort of garment to make me run away, screaming.

I have long despaired of Marks & Spencer’s shoes, too. The new TV ad that is supposed to show us how fabulous M&S footwear really is, featuring Lisa Snowdon dancing with all the skill of a hippo, features just one pair (why not show us six or seven styles?) that perfectly illustrates the fear gripping the brand: the shoes are high, but not high enough to satisfy young women.


Kaftan anyone? M&S should make clothes for grown-ups


They are black and strappy and bondage, but not really ‘out there’. But, then, neither are they classic.

This is M&S’s age-old conundrum: they want to be bang on trend but always hold back, terrified of alarming the core customer. They end up satisfying neither.

Of course, the vast majority of fashion brands on the High Street are suffering. Only Next has reversed its fortunes, but that was by slashing prices and quality, something Marks cannot (and should not) do.

Over lunch in the M&S HQ last year with outgoing chairman Sir Stuart Rose, I asked how M&S would weather the storm in 2011. ‘Not by compromising on quality, and not by abandoning any of the targets we set out in Plan A,’ was his answer. This is M&S’s manifesto for sustainable, ethical business practices, brought into play in January 2007, and a baton taken up by Rose’s successor, Marc Bolland.

Is the reason Marks is faltering because women, battered by the recession and higher VAT, are retreating to the bargain basement end of the High Street? No, I don’t think so. Women are, finally, beginning to tire of clothes that don’t hang properly or wash well or last, a trend that is backed up by falling sales at Primark.


Missing the Mark: Is M&S is in danger of alienating core customers by forgetting about bigger women, or those in their seventies?


I think Marks misses out because it is trying to compete with Peacocks and New Look and H&M et al. Accept you are never going to be cool, and concentrate on dressing middle-aged women who want to look smart, not like superannuated hookers.

Bolland says he wants to improve womenswear over the next few seasons. ‘In clothing we will improve our core M&S ranges, so that the unique quality, style and fashion of the M&S brand stand out.’

But there is no ‘unique style’. I think he should ditch the TV ad campaign. Keep Twiggy, but only on instore billboards. And capitalise on your reputation for quality: produce capsule collections of classics such as blazers, V-neck cashmere (in all branches, not just the South-East), black trousers in different fits, tea dresses, simple shifts in bright blocks of colour, pencil skirts, simple tanks in cashmere and silk. Invest more in silk, wool and cotton.

Make the best white shirt around: a hint of stretch, fitted, and that washes and irons like a dream. Lose the high fashion twiddly bits, and the cheap jewellery and imitation leather bags. Install more changing rooms in all branches. Lose the different labels: Per Una and Limited and Autograph and blah blah blah.

Hire a ‘name’ to design the shoes. Use best quality materials because women who shop in Marks are usually on their feet all day.

And make stylish clothes for women in their 60s, 70s and 80s. Marks has an old lady ghetto called the Classic collection, but it’s horrible.

Stop trying to appeal to teens (they will always prefer Topshop and New Look and Very.com), and make clothes for grown-ups.

The menswear is fantastic: good cut, Italian fabric and classic, rather preppy design. So why does the design team think women want high fashion all the time?

We want dateless clothes that fit, and a few colourful, frivolous bits and bobs for holidays. Marks could look at Cos, Uniqlo and Banana Republic for well-made fashion that’s a bit anonymous and doesn’t scream ‘floaty graphic Twiggy kaftan’.

Hire the wonderful model Daphne Selfe, who has grey hair, is 80, and wouldn’t be seen dead in that horrid green appliqued granny top.


source:dailymail