How Marks & Spencer shook off its granny pants image and got genuinely cool

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Synonymous with “frumpy”, Mark and Sparks was where your mum and grandma shopped for outfits that nodded to trends without ever seeming to truly understand them, like an alien attempting to mimic human behaviour; it was where people who didn’t really “get” fashion bought things that they considered stylish but somehow always missed the mark in a million minuscule ways. Forget feeling embarrassed to admit you’d bought something from M&S – people were announcing the fact with pride Then there was the sell-out denim midi, a two-tone slip that featured in Sienna Miller’s M&S collab, and three autumn dresses plastered all over TikTok: a red, long-sleeved, textured number, a green, high-neck, tiered Per Una showstopper, and a tie-neck, three-quarter sleeve, leopard-print design that became an instant classic. There was a point a few months ago when trying to get hold of the brand’s faux-fur “mob wife” winter coat or its wide palazzo leg jeans – combining soft, stretchy cotton fabric with a wide-leg silhouette – was as frustrating an endeavour as trying to get hold of Glastonbury tickets. Forget feeling embarrassed to “admit” you’d bought something from M&S – people were announcing the fact with pride.