Make a blazer go the distance by knowing what to wear with it. Pair with a flirty monochrome dress for a leisurely lunch, with colour-pop jeans for a chic brunch or with statement trousers for evening drinks
Brand focus: Marks & Spencer
Bio:Marks & Spencer was founded in 1884 when Michael Marks approached Tom Spencer to help him manage his penny market stall in Leeds. Spencer invested £300 and the duo called their new shops "penny bazaars". By 1900, Marks Spencer ran 36 penny bazaars and 12 high-street stores. The group now has 700 stores in the UK and 300 worldwide, specialising in clothing and luxury food products.
Aesthetic:Clothing-wise, M&S suffered for years from a mumsy reputation, not helped by staid advertising and, well, a mumsy aesthetic. The past two decades have seen a move into younger, fresher advertising campaigns and more modern, fashion-forward designs, led in no small part by its Limited Collection, which re-interprets catwalk trends into cool, grown-up designs.
Stockists:Marks & Spencer has more than 20 stores in the Republic, in Dublin, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Killarney, Letterkenny, Mullingar, Navan and Newbridge. It has also just launched its Irish website, marksandspencer.ie, which delivers in Ireland.
Price tag:Due to its wide selection, prices in Marks Spencer can vary wildly, from €10 for a T-shirt to €200-plus for a winter coat. The best bargains are to be had in its cashmeres (sweaters start at around €100) and tights, which won't easily be beaten on quality.
Cruise collections explained
Typically, fashion houses produce two main collections: spring/summer, which is debuted the previous September in New York, London, Paris or Milan; and autumn/winter, which is (perhaps confusingly) debuted the previous February, again, in one of four main locations.
It is worth mentioning the fact that fashion weeks are cropping up in various locations including Sydney, Barcelona, Amsterdam and a few South American countries; although these endeavours are to be commended, and for Ireland envied, they show no signs of threatening the locations of the world’s heavyweights in the four fashion “capitals”.
However, you may have noticed, between seasons, advertisements changing tack slightly; in January, for example, Chloé might debut a more summer-appropriate collection, with an advertising campaign depicting models sunbathing (tut tut) on a yacht; Chanel, for the past few seasons, has put on a show, in between seasons, sometimes in the yachting society’s Mecca, Cannes.
This is called the cruise collection, a concept originally conceived for the well-heeled customers who found themselves in need of beachwear in January, for their three-week hiatus to the Maldives. Major fashion houses such as Chanel (pictured right), Dior, Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Chloé now routinely produce inter-seasonal collections – two a year – which are usually smaller in scale and ambition than their main shows, for customers who find themselves holidaying at sartorially inappropriate times.
All I can say is, thank Karl for that – you have no idea how difficult I used find it to lay my hands on the latest Hermès bikini before my annual jaunt to Turks and Caicos.
Read Rosemary Mac Cabe's fashion blog, Fash Mob, at irishtimes.com/blogs
Email any fashion queries to rmaccabe@irishtimes.com
