Behind the scenes at M&S, there's a battle for the biggest brand in retailing, but things aren't as exciting on the shop floor, writes Deirdre McQuillan, Fashion Editor.
Marks & Spencer launched its shortest skirt ever, a mere 11 inches from waist to hem, last month in, of all places, the crypt of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.
Along with "cowgirl" jeans and boob tubes, it was part of the new younger, sassier clothing range called Due from Per Una aimed, according to Matthew Hadley of M&S, "at the body conscious customer". The models, imported from London for the occasion, were cute babes with pin-up figures and blonde backcombed hair as high as their stilettos. Combining the sacred with the profane may not be a novel way of attracting attention, but many might view Due as a last-ditch effort by the faltering bastion of British retailing to emulate Top Shop's success in attracting teenage customers.
Flippy skirts may be too little, too late. Full marks for effort, however.
Although it boasts 10 million visitors to its stores every week, M&S's clothing sales in womenswear have been falling; trading figures show a worrying drop of 2.5 per cent in the first weeks of this year alone.
This downward trend was the background to this week's takeover battle between billionaire entrepreneur Philip Green and newly appointed M&S chief executive Stuart ("Silver Fox") Rose. As the M&S board of directors rejected Green's €12.05 billion bid, Rose said he would be concentrating on the presentation of womenswear and getting the ranges right.
For a company with a hard-earned reputation for quality, reliability and price, M&S has never quite shaken off its worthy, lacklustre, middle England image and though much of its fashion has sharpened up, there's still not enough excitement and allure in its merchandising and presentation and still too much obvious effort in trying to cater for everybody. Who wants matronly midi length tweed skirts? Or from the summer collections those ghastly long flowery dresses with low necklines and shoestring straps? For teenage and twenty-something metropolitans, M&S simply does not register on their fashion map. "I'd rather go to River Island, Top Shop or Miss Selfridge", one young Dubliner told me this week, echoing many of her contemporaries. Why does M&S now need the teenies? As a fashion writer, the dilemma can be seen from other perspectives.
Several times a year, M&S invites the press to view their upcoming collections in various stylish locations around London. We have been to the Fashion & Textile Museum, to grand houses in Belgravia, to the Saatchi Gallery and other selected venues where the clothes are stylishly presented in tasteful settings. At these shows you see at a glance what the new offerings are, the clever interpretation of catwalk trends alongside the familiar, cosy classics. But once installed in their more mundane retail environment, even excellent key pieces get lost, overwhelmed by wearying racks of clothes, clutter and elasticated waists. And in a fast moving world where other high street retailers such as Zara and Top Shop can move stock in and out in a quicker, more efficient way, there is nothing colder than last season's reheated fare.
Zara and Top Shop have created their own recipes for success. Zara's cool, modern environment with good lighting and flooring, sleek fittings and fixtures make its clothes look desirable and more expensive than they are. The Spanish retailer's approach alienates neither mother nor daughter. In a world where the psychology of colour plays an enormous part, it is used selectively and cleverly, with clothes displays sharply attuned to the particular market in which each store is located.
Top Shop succeeds despite indifferent environments, in the gaiety, freshness of design and constant turnaround of offerings aimed at an MTV generation with short attention spans and a disposable attitude to fashion. Most Marks & Spencer stores, on the other hand, are large, unwieldy and often difficult to negotiate. On one occasion in their flagship Baker Street branch, searching for men's cashmere sweaters (great value), I had to ask at least three people for directions.
To their credit, M&S offers incomparable service and over the years, has made enormous efforts to keep in touch with the times, but a fundamental conservatism still dominates.
They took a long time to accept credit cards, and even when they took on high profile and highly fashionable design consultants such as Paul Smith, Betty Jackson and Tania Sarne, they deliberated even longer in putting their names on the label. The upmarket Autograph range, introduced four years ago, attempted to boost sales with clothes by Julien McDonald, Betty Jackson, Orla Kiely, Philip Treacy and others, but there were complaints about pricing and it has had limited success. None of these designers work with M&S any more.
In 2001, the George Davies designed Per Una range was launched in what has proven to be a successful attempt to appeal to fashion conscious customers in the 25-35 age group. The new, even younger-focused Due range is a sub-brand of Per Una.
The disastrous TV commercial showing a large naked woman running up a hill shouting "I'm normal" to highlight the average size l6 as part of the Autumn 2000 campaign did nothing to improve matters.
The new winter 04 collection unveiled to the press last month has been accurately described as solid and safe, easily outshone by the daring and beautiful new underwear. But to survive in the modern retail world, M&S has to do more than produce great bras and knickers.
It could take a look at the current Cyrillus catalogue, for example, the French company which caters for a mass market and concentrates on getting key details right; a great trench coat, a sixties inspired pique shift (with optional jacket), lined linen trousers, neat retro jackets, a light parka and some great shantung dresses for glamour. Not earth shaking, not a copy of any obvious catwalk trend, but firm, confident and chic, clothes that don't need bum skimming shorts and cathedrals to be popular and successful.