M&S Debuts at London Fashion Week with Archive Collection

Marks & Spencer is making its London Fashion Week debut. The retailer aims to bolster its fashion credentials with a catwalk show featuring 57 looks for men and women. Every piece shown will be available to purchase immediately after the event.

The collection is inspired by the brand's archive. Chief executive Stuart Machin stated the collection is "built on our heritage but brought bang up to date." Key pieces include a tan leather borg jacket inspired by the historic St Michael label and a black tuxedo with a white shirt referencing 1990s campaigns with supermodel Christy Turlington.

The Drop and Pricing Strategy

Unlike typical designer runway presentations, the entire M&S collection will be shoppable right after the show. It will be available online and across 10 flagship stores in the UK and Ireland. The brand is targeting its mass-market customer base with accessible pricing.

The show will also be streamed live on the M&S website and via its European ecommerce partner, Zalando.

A Broader Fashion Overhaul

This move is part of a sustained effort to overhaul M&S's clothing division. The goal is to shed a historic reputation for appealing mainly to older shoppers. Under CEO Stuart Machin, who took the role in 2022, the retailer has focused on improving value, quality, and style.

The Fashion Week debut supports a wider push to grow online sales. M&S is targeting a long-term doubling of online sales for its fashion, home, and beauty division from approximately £1.4 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. It aims for digital to account for 50% of sales in that division, up from around 34% currently.

Recent Challenges and Future Outlook

M&S has introduced more trend-led ranges and collaborations in recent years to win a greater share of the UK clothing market. However, the business is still recovering from a major cyber attack last year which disrupted operations. That incident contributed to a 24% fall in annual profit for the 2025/26 financial year. In May, the company said it expects to return to profit growth this year. M&S will unveil its half-year results on November 4.