Alexa Chung’s first raid of the archives got a thumbs up for bringing some much-needed cool to M&S, but this second season is the one that has us reaching for our wallets. Think same purity of fashion content, approximately 50% more wearability.
Take the pie-crust blouse, an Alexa signature. Last season, it was a trophy piece, but tricky IRL, thanks to the stiff back-fastening collar and the slim sleeves. In this collection, which drops on 1 November, a pale-blue style fastens down the front and an elasticated button loops at the cuff, a practical detail borrowed from the M&S school-uniform department.
If you haven’t bought an autumn coat yet, you might want to hold fire till 1 November, because there are three beauties here. Drumroll please for my personal favourite piece, the white fake-fur Crown jacket. Starting with a 90s shawl collar, Alexa has added a furry hood and a ring-pull zip for a 2016-does-90s-rave look that works perfectly with floor-grazing silky tracksuit bottoms.
At the London fashion week preview, there was a lot of fashion-editor love for an Ellery herringbone coat, just oversized enough to be special, but not so big that it flaps around everywhere, and a total bargain for £125. Most Alexa of all is the Templar coat, £99, remodelled from a classic M&S girl’s coat: princess cut, double rows of shiny buttons, overstitched velvet collar. The perfect 60s European-junior-royal coat, in other words.
As you would expect from a staple of best-dressed lists, the collection is on point for autumn trend. Two velvet dresses, for instance: a party frock in crushed velvet (very next-season Victoria Beckham) and an excellent pinafore dress in black velvet, which will work a dream over a white T-shirt. There are good fashion basics, too: a school-jumper V-neck sweater (tweaked with a slightly deeper neckline) comes in grey, navy or pale pink for £35.
In her rummages in the M&S archive, Alexa has found some great stories, as well as clothes. A gold silk blouse in the new collection is a remake of the golden Aire blouse that was specially made as a commemorative thank-you gift and presented to staff in the womenswear department in the 80s when sales reached 500,000.
