Steve Rowe’s fashion credentials are strong. He began his career as a 15-year-old Saturday boy in the men’s knitwear department of M&S in Croydon, and after leaving school worked at Topshop for four years before rejoining the company. This gives him a connection that Marc Bolland, who joined M&S from Morrison and Heineken, did not have.
He will need it. In recent years, fashion at M&S has proved itself something of a hospital pass – as Rowe, who has been in charge of clothing since last summer, knows all too well. The fundamental challenge for Marks & Spencer fashion is that of serving a broad and diverse customer base while maintaining a distinctive brand identity and upholding its authority as a fashion leader.
Being seen as an authority on fashion is crucial for a brand whose reputation is staked on quality, and therefore cannot compete with the mass fast-fashion retailers on price. The scale of the M&S business makes change slow, and its catalysts difficult to track, but since Rowe took over general merchandising, which covers fashion, there appears to have been a sharper focus on making sure that the strongest, most on-trend pieces are bought in depth. In recent seasons, Marks & Spencer has consistently produced must-have pieces – from 2013’s pink coat to 2015’s 70s suede skirt – but the strength of offer showcased in magazines has not always been reflected in what the customer walking into the average M&S high street store was offered.
There has been one key personnel change in fashion under Rowe’s watch. Queralt Ferrer was promoted last autumn to overall design responsibility for womenswear. That her background is in the Limited, Autograph and Best of British ranges – the most fashion-forward and design-led of the myriad M&S sub-brands – seems to indicate that Rowe is backing a more risk-taking strategy in fashion.
Highlights from the spring ranges include a sleek, dark-olive toned leather dress, with a statement-making £249 price tag, as well as a shirt with on-trend pie-crust ruffles for less than £30, and several catwalk-relevant, Gucci-esque metallic midi skirts. Mumsy cardigans need not apply.
