So the Archive by Alexa collection has arrived at Marks & Spencer. What to make of it?
The world
What indeed? Truly, the amount of publicity around this event might have suggested that Alexa Chung was about to unveil a cure for cancer, Aids and the Middle East peace crisis all in one, rather than just rehashing some old dresses and vest tops. But as the adverts used to say, this is not just a fashion launch, it’s an M&S fashion launch. As anyone who lives in this country knows, never mind the ravens at the Tower of London, it’s the fall of Marks & Spencer that would signal the collapse of this country. So any sign that M&S might actually sell some vaguely decent clothes again is cause for national parades.
I don’t know what’s happened to M&S, I really don’t. I have very clear and – I’m sure – non-idealised memories of buying rather excellent clothes from M&S back in the 90s: pretty blouses, sweet dresses, smart cardigans. I think my entire university wardrobe came from M&S, and not in an ironic way – in a genuine, “look at my pretty dress; be my friend” way.
And now, well. It’s all very well for M&S to say that the horrible tapered trousers and shapeless cardigans they now sell aren’t for me – but who are they for? Because these hideous clothes are all still pretty expensive, so the idea that they’re for your average, style-averse sixtysomething woman doesn’t fly. This explains why its fortunes are in such a dire strait, and why so many people got so excited about Chung gracing the brand with her fashion appeal.
But here’s the thing: the last thing this label needs is a hit-and-run fashion collaboration. In other words, one Alexa doth not a high-street brand make. It’s all very well for the fashion press to get all squealy over the (quite sweet) dresses and (absurd) pie-crust blouses Chung has knocked out – but, really, so what? M&S doesn’t need a fashion jump start, particularly one that is dependent on the daft idea that buying these clothes will make anyone look like Alexa (when, in truth, it’s the reverse: you need to look like Alexa to make the clothes look good, and I’m looking at you, pie-crust blouse.)
No, what it needs is just to become good again, and this means selling excellent basics all year round. To make lovely sweaters that fit properly and are neither too boxy nor bulky; dresses that nip in at the waist just enough and hit the knee; cardigans that actually fit as opposed to drooping shapelessly around the sleeves and hips; trousers in styles other than tapered; T-shirts with proper short sleeves. After that’s sorted, maybe clean up the dressing rooms, which seem to have been disgusting since about 1999, and get more tills in the stores. None of this is rocket science, M&S. It’s not even GCSE biology. So while I appreciate the thought and money you clearly invested in this collaboration, stop rearranging the deckchairs, plug the hole in your sinking ship, and just make some good clothes that women actually need. Come on, guys: you make the best macaroni cheese on the high street, so I’m pretty sure that figuring out how to make some T-shirts isn’t beyond you.
Someone has been sexist to me. What should I do?
A female journalist, UK
A short summary of last week’s events: an MP referred to female journalist A as “totty.” Female journalist A tweeted about this, declined to name the MP and reported him to the whip. Female journalist B felt compelled to write a long piece professing her “amazement” at, not the MP’s behaviour, but female journalist A’s reaction, especially since A “is a well-established journalist with nothing to prove. Had the remark been directed at a new kid on the block, I could have understood the fuss.”
Now, I must confess that I am not quite in agreement with B that the only reason a woman would object to sexism would be to gain attention for herself. But then, given that B is best known for allowing one of her sources to be revealed to the police, thereby resulting in the source’s imprisonment, I confess to being somewhat bewildered by her general moral code: exposing sources good, exposing sexism bad. OK then!
Anyway, the real issue here is what to do about sexism. Personally, I think A behaved impeccably: she exposed the sexism but didn’t name the sexist to the general public, thereby staving off a pointless social media mob. Yes, she could have spoken to him directly but then she would have only told one man that this behaviour was unacceptable; by taking it public, she schooled thousands of men.
But, in all honesty, this is not the way I’d have gone either. No, I’d have taken inspiration from the 1982 film Tootsie, in which, after Jessica Lange endures sexist behaviour from a dirty old man, Dustin Hoffman promises to equip her with a cattle prod, to “zap [the sexist] right in the badoobies”. Any women who would like to be furnished thusly, I’m happy to be your Dustin Hoffman.
Post your questions to Hadley Freeman, Ask Hadley, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Email ask.hadley@theguardian.com.
