Marks & Spencer Has Nailed The New Season And These Are the Best Pieces to Buy Up To Christmas

Who can deny the influence that Maddy Evans, womenswear director since May 2022, has had on the Marks & Spencer business? It’s clear that her hand has wielded major influence on steering the juggernaut that is M&S womenswear, a business that can claim 13 million customers – then add food, home and beauty and M&S is catering to 30 million customers.

So how do you please the nation? ‘It’s the teams; it’s constant customer insight, it’s the buyers and merchandisers, the trend and fabric teams, the sourcing offices in Asia, Europe, Bangladesh, India and Egypt – it’s the global feedback, all of that gives us the confidence to make bold decisions,’ says Evans, who visits stores nationwide every week to glean vital colleague and customer feedback.

‘Trust is the real privilege of this job. We’re the trusted editor,’ she says of sifting trends that will and won’t work for the majority. But it’s not just that. M&S has become braver and bolder in its approach and attitude to fashion – actually, not fashion, she is keen to point out, style . A spin around the new season press day with Evans, pointing out what she believes will be the winning pieces, reveals the spark with which she, and the entire team, have ignited the brand.

First up, dropping in September, some of the best coats we’ve seen on the high street. The strictly tailored chocolate coat, gently seamed at the waist, so you won’t look like a blocky rectangle, is an excellent elevated work coat. It speaks to the investment M&S has made in formal outerwear, as does the brushed chocolate jacket, the wet look black car coat and the black satiny duvet jacket from the more exclusive Autograph range.

For October, there’s a selection of bomber jackets for £65-£70 that are all meticulous in their quality and cut and, dare we say it, cool? Soft to the touch, in quilted olive nylon, boasts a heritage check lining and cord collar; a steal at £60. Another in faux leather is soft like butter and resembles that tumbled texture (pigskin?) that we’re seeing at upscale designer brands, for £70. Where once these items may have been available in M&S’s top stores only, these will be available nationwide. That’s a marked change: the most stylish, eye-catching pieces are available to everyone.

For November it is, thankfully, not all sequins agogo. ‘Our feedback revealed that in the run up to Christmas customers suffer from sequin fatigue,’ smiles Evans, hoisting aloft a pair of really good jeans – true blue, great wash, side seam striped, full-leg cut – as if they’re an ace up her sleeve. ‘What our customers say they want is desk to dinner pieces,’ she adds, pairing a strict black faux leather jacket with a transparent lace dress meant to be worn over jeans; or a classic black tailored jacket over a white t-shirt and worn with smart jeans a knife sharp crease down the front like a tailored trouser. Another great investment M&S has made is in a new denim designer, so now the offering is no longer jeggings and mom jeans. ‘We do everything: barrel, carrot, wide-leg, straight, slim, everything , and it’s made such a difference.’

As for December, we can all look forward to the rails of ‘palette cleansing’ winter whites and cream. ‘Our white was too bright before,’ concedes Evans, holding out a pair of wide-leg jeans in just the right shade of clotted cream. Colour has been another big focus, scrutinised under the microscope by Evans and team. Equally, the knitwear in the December drop has been given the style treatment and will have us all running to M&S for Christmas presents. But, notable too, are the very soft fine jersey tops that are just really useful for going under stuff – the kind of things an upscale brand will fleece you for.

Also spotted, what will be some of the high street’s bolder accessories: from soft squishy hold-close bags to more formal leather work bags; shoes run the gamut from flat points and pony skin slingbacks to soft ballet-trainers and cherry cowboy boots. Let’s just say, M&S accessories are really going for it.

‘It’s taken four years to get it more right than wrong,’ is how Evans humbly puts it of her extraordinary role as dresser of the nation. Good news for the high streets of Britain. And all of us.

Shop: Our Marks & Spencer’s Winter Collection Favourites

Rebecca Lowthorpe worked as fashion director for Grazia from 2016 to 2019; she is currently Grazia’s acting assistant editor, overseeing fashion and beauty content.