2 days ago
M&S fashion is back online – these are the nine must-buy pieces
Lovers of Marks & Spencer fashion, rejoice – after six long weeks, we can finally shop its clothing, shoes and accessories online once more.
The retailer has resumed service on its e-commerce site after it was forced to cease online trading due to a cyber attack in April.
'Select fashion ranges are now available to buy online' for customers in England, Scotland and Wales, according to a notice on the M&S website. The company says more of its fashion, home and beauty products will be added to its online shop each day, with deliveries in Northern Ireland to restart in the coming weeks.
And if you can't order what you want? 'For products that are not available online, customers can add them to their 'wish list' and when they come back into stock we will let them know,' the retailer says. 'Our full range remains available in store.'
Cotton one-shouldered dress, £49.90, Marks & Spencer
For high street fashion fans, this news will be particularly welcome. While the M&S clothing department has always been popular for basics such as underwear and hosiery, its fashion offering, lead by head of womenswear design Lisa Illis, has improved significantly in recent years, delivering (until the cyber attack) sustained growth.
It's not just the well-received collaborations with Sienna Miller and Bella Freud; before online shutdown, M&S revealed that it sells 10 pairs of jeans every minute, thanks to 'It' styles such as the barrel and palazzo, and prices starting at just £25.
'M&S finally seems confident about what it's doing and who its customer is, and is no longer patronising her with shapeless dresses and frumpy patterns,' The Telegraph 's head of fashion, Lisa Armstrong, wrote last year.
Cotton embroidered blouse, £55, Marks & Spencer
Certain trend-led fashion items have sold out rapidly, with lengthy waiting lists for the restock – among them a pair of brown suede loafers bearing a close resemblance to a pair by Saint Laurent, and a bow-front sequin top that was a viral hit last Christmas.
Of course, there's been no issue with in-store sales in the intervening weeks, and new-in collections have been available to buy across the UK – but brick-and-mortar stores don't always carry the full offering. The cyber attack has served as an indicator of just how dependent the fashion consumer has become on the retailer's e-commerce site.
So now that we can shop online again, which are the new-in pieces we should add to basket? Well, get excited, because the new drop is very strong indeed – but I feel I should preface this with the warning that we should always be prepared to receive something that looked great online but is disappointing in real life. A colleague who visited an M&S store this weekend complained of cheap, synthetic-looking knitwear (those viscose/polyamide blends) and 'insipid blouses' (beware items such as a lace tie-front blouse which does not boast enough fabric to pass muster as a grown-up evening look). My personal pet fashion hate is wishy-washy floral midi dresses – but, thankfully, I don't see any online today.
As for the best buys, scroll on for The Telegraph fashion team's edit…
