If you have looked up in your local M&S recently you will have noticed that there has been a sea change at the once staid retailer. No longer a graveyard of school uniforms and new knickers, their fashion department has lurched forwards and, having seen their new autumn collection — the first of which launches today, it is set on an upwardly chic trajectory. The stats are great (in May, M&S announced pre-tax profits up 41 per cent to £672.5 million, with clothing and home sales up 5.3 per cent) and the clothes, though sometimes lingering in knock-off purgatory, hit every trending point.
