"A fresh perspective on past eras" is the new season's fashion angle from Marks & Spencer, which last night showed a selection of its spring/summer collection in the newly refurbished Mary Street store in Dublin.
The ebullient mood of the British retailer, formally "in recovery" under Stuart Rose's leadership, showed in the clothes, which have a new sharpness and modernity while still catering for the mass market. Even Per Una has straightened out its asymmetrical hems, a noticeable improvement in its customary decorative impulse.
The company has recently announced laudable plans to go carbon-neutral and extend sustainable and ethical sourcing, and will launch its fair trade fortnight at the end of this month. Fairtrade jeans, T-shirts, underwear and socks are now sold in all its stores and, according to Carmel Breheny, marketing manager for Ireland, M&S is now the biggest purchaser of Fairtrade cotton in the world.
Divided into eight sections, the show, styled by Catherine Condell, had something to offer the woman who likes the easy comfort of loose, layered tops, long vests and jersey leggings, but in subdued colours like mocha, taupe and grey marl as well as more formal structured separates for city wear.
Most jackets were short and neat with details like grosgrain belts or Spanish-style embroideries and one in plain red wool with a funnel neck was a real winner at €89. A sharp eye could see catwalk influences in the swing jackets with their big buttons, a fraction of the price of those by Marc Jacobs, or the cropped trenches complete with epaulettes and button flaps.
The season's key items such as parkas and tunics were in evidence too, the parkas smartened up in inky blue and the tunics in oversize crochet or graphic print silks. The new cashmeres included a navy and cream striped football jersey, a luxurious translation of a familiar staple at €119. A chic sheath and a trench coat in black and white gingham (in sizes from 8-28) were winning takes on a 1960s trend, while ballerina flats were inexpensive lookalikes of the popular French Repetto styles.