Good Lord! Marks and Spencer - is it... good again???

[IronRock]

All you Brits out there will have been bemoaning the outdated bastion of men's wear for at least a decade. But look at this, has somethng changed? Are we seeing a resurgence in this old lady of the high street?

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Sarto...Engage_mod_2_0

Has anyone actually seen any of their new line? There's an article in the Telegraph too with rather a nice looking wool blazer:

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/artic...-menswear.html

Interested to hear if anyone has any opinions.

 

[TRINI]

I saw some of the Sartorial stuff when I was there last March and it was quite nice for the price.

 

[Kingstonian]

Originally Posted by IronRock

All you Brits out there will have been bemoaning the outdated bastion of men's wear for at least a decade. But look at this, has somethng changed? Are we seeing a resurgence in this old lady of the high street?

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Sarto...Engage_mod_2_0

Has anyone actually seen any of their new line? There's an article in the Telegraph too with rather a nice looking wool blazer:

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/artic...-menswear.html

Interested to hear if anyone has any opinions.

I have not noticed any improvement. M&S decline drove me from the suburban High Street to seek better elsewhere.

I could not find a Crombie copy in M&S when I looked. I had to go up to the West End and all I could find were expensive Jose Mourinho-style coats or original Crombies. Back in the day I had a really nice trench coat from M&S. No chance now. Luckily the old coat is still in fine condition.

I used to be able to buy M&S plain black Oxfords in polished leather but they are long gone.

No reason to buy an M&S shirt when you can get Jermyn Street for similar money.

Primark has the really cheap stuff.

M&S blazers were not all wool the last time I checked. Harris tweed went a couple of years ago.

 

[Marcellionheart]

Originally Posted by Kingstonian

I have not noticed any improvement. M&S decline drove me from the suburban High Street to seek better elsewhere.

I could not find a Crombie copy in M&S when I looked. I had to go up to the West End and all I could find were expensive Jose Mourinho-style coats or original Crombies. Back in the day I had a really nice trench coat from M&S. No chance now. Luckily the old coat is still in fine condition.

I used to be able to buy M&S plain black Oxfords in polished leather but they are long gone.

No reason to buy an M&S shirt when you can get Jermyn Street for similar money.

Primark has the really cheap stuff.

M&S blazers were not all wool the last time I checked. Harris tweed went a couple of years ago.

Some of M&S's stuff is crap. But I got a wool/cashmere blend blazer in the Bond St shop for £79 the last time I was there.

 

[RJE]

Originally Posted by Kingstonian

I could not find a Crombie copy in M&S when I looked. I had to go up to the West End and all I could find were expensive Jose Mourinho-style coats or original Crombies. Back in the day I had a really nice trench coat from M&S. No chance now. Luckily the old coat is still in fine condition.

No reason to buy an M&S shirt when you can get Jermyn Street for similar money.

M&S blazers were not all wool the last time I checked. Harris tweed went a couple of years ago.

The overcoats are very stylish these days. That isn't a compliment. I'd suggest if someone is on a budget, either Ebay or visit Daks/Aquascutum in sales.

I saw the name 'Moon' come up for their tweed. Presumably Abraham Moon. Not the worst material around, and I think they also provide material for J Crew.

There are wool blazers:
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Luxur...qid=1295737825
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Luxur...qid=1295737562.

Creative searches produced these pages, which I didn't find on the main site. Some may be new items mentioned in the Telegraph article; I suspect others are AW10 and mostly off the shelves.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/richContent/B003VX2XXU
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Marks.../dp/B0049PSJ8W
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Herit.../dp/B0046E2JVY

Also some interesting jackets such as http://www.marksandspencer.com/Luxur...qid=1295737562 (there were several more tweed jackets earlier last year: in a Hackett thread, I mentioned spending some time sheltering from a storm in a M&S store). I think the fit can be both big and a bit boxy.

Their Sartorial/Luxury shirts (http://www.marksandspencer.com/Buy-1...=false&size=60) are much better than anything you'll find on Jermyn St for £30. However, there are limited size options so I guess you may need to add sleeve shortening. They also have a decent range of country-approved shirts (http://www.marksandspencer.com/Cotto...2&sort=-price). A while back they experimented with shirts with a reasonable cashmere content.

 

[meister]

Originally Posted by IronRock

All you Brits out there will have been bemoaning the outdated bastion of men's wear for at least a decade. But look at this, has somethng changed? Are we seeing a resurgence in this old lady of the high street?

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Sarto...Engage_mod_2_0

Has anyone actually seen any of their new line? There's an article in the Telegraph too with rather a nice looking wool blazer:

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/artic...-menswear.html

Interested to hear if anyone has any opinions.

Their stuff you see in the thrifts Down Under from the back packers is top quality gear as good as Lewin etc.

 

[Holdfast]

Originally Posted by IronRock

All you Brits out there will have been bemoaning the outdated bastion of men's wear for at least a decade. But look at this, has somethng changed? Are we seeing a resurgence in this old lady of the high street?
Interesting. Like the reporter in the article you quoted, I pop into M&S occasionally, and like him, over the past 10-15 years have left with little more than socks & underwear. Largely because the fit of most items is quite generous, and the fabric quality and construction often hasn't been good enough to justify the kind of tailoring it would need to fit well. I think the only thing I still have from M&S is a grey donegal jacket, which needed a lot of tailoring to fit nicely. It usually gets some nice words when I post a photo of it in WAYWRN, though, which I think reflects the nice material. If there really is a wider turnaround, it will be worth having another look, because prices are usually pretty good there. I can't see myself ever getting suits, shirts or ties there, but I'd probably consider a jacket or overcoat, if the fabric was nice and the fit was good off-the-rack.

 

[cold war painter]

Originally Posted by Holdfast

I pop into M&S occasionally, and .. have left with little more than socks & underwear.

That seems to be many people's relationship with M&S now.

I do remember seeing some nice old M&S stuff in ManofKent's WAYWRNs a while back and being pleasantly surprised by it, but there's been nothing worth purchasing in any M&S I've been into in a very long time.

 

[lasbar]

Originally Posted by cold war painter

That seems to be many people's relationship with M&S now.

I do remember seeing some nice old M&S stuff in ManofKent's WAYWRNs a while back and being pleasantly surprised by it, but there's been nothing worth purchasing in any M&S I've been into in a very long time.

M&S is an institution...

My wife also goes in there and never buy anything.

She used to go shopping there with her mum and she is still trying to have a look to get something interesting...

There are better products on offer for a better price than M&S...

Next is slowing becoming the M&S of the working woman...

 

[cold war painter]

Next are still a bit too trendy to completely occupy M&S' old niche, I would think. I have no idea who might.