What a relief!

M&S are back online

Before you read this piece, let me tell you it comes with a caveat. Please believe me when I say that I am not getting paid for writing it. I am not considered an “Influencer” and I don’t get financial incentives for anything I mention in my Home Truths (although if anyone would like to give me any I would more than happily accept!). I write about what I want to in my pieces, they contain my opinions and if there is anything you object to, you can simply stop reading. There, that’s got that out of the way.

Here's the deal: I am a serial Marks and Spencer shopper. I’ve been buying clothes from them for decades. I’ve stuck with them through thick and thin and all their ups and downs. Even during the times when stock was dull and their buyers and designers were clearly having an off moment, I’ve still been there.

I’m not just talking about underwear here. Whilst I fit the profile of the “One in three British women who buy their knickers from M&S”, I buy shoes, shorts, jumpers, bags and just about everything else as well, because here’s the thing: they are keenly priced, generously sized and, increasingly, very on trend.

I own various pairs of their jeans: “Straight leg”, no-nonsense, hard wearing for dog walking; “Skinny”, in black, grey and white that I wore a lot, with mock-silk shirts, until “Skinny” fell out of fashion recently, (but I’ll keep them until they come back in again); “Wide-leg, high waisted”, in indigo to wear with thick soled, clumpy boots and trainers, “Boyfriend” with a baggy bum and tapered legs in distressed, pale blue denim and the wide leg cut-offs in mid blue that I am wearing a lot in this hot weather. These are actually White Stuff, from their concession in M&S, and this is where the store have scored another hit in my view, by selling higher-end brands such as Hush, Whistles and Jaeger.

These are the White stuff cut offs. The T shirt is also from M&S. The trainers are Regatta and the jacket was given to me by my lovely friend Sophie when I told her I was into orange at the moment. I was thrilled when a twenty something woman came up to me in London’s Oxford Street and said “I love what you’re wearing!” Aged 67 it’s not something I expect to happen.

I buy t-shirts, in plain colours and in stripes. My Pilates leggings and tops are from the M&S Good Move range. I buy sweatshirts and smart shirts, I buy simple, linen, shift dresses (one shown above with a silver bag) and occasionally, when one of their designers goes out on a limb, I help them out by buying an item that, as sure as eggs is eggs, will end up in the sale because it’s just a bit too outré for a lot of people.

I include in this, the gold, “puffer” jacket that I spotted one winter and just had to have. There was a silver one too, which I loved, but I decided I might look as if I was wrapped in Bacofoil, so I went for the gold. Apart from being stylish, the jacket is really warm too, but despite this, I don’t wear it that often: it is, shall we say, just a bit too “out there” and always causes a bit of a stir! The most memorable comment I ever received when wearing it, was from a colleague when we were passing in the lobby of the magazine publishing offices where we worked,

“Crikey Suze” he said, “are you expecting an alien invasion?!”

When M&S are at their best, they take the catwalk looks and translate them into affordable, well-made and, yes, even covetable pieces. The trick is choosing the right things, and then wearing them with something else that elevates the look further

I have even converted my daughter’s 27-year-old boyfriend to the brand. Actually I am saying here and now that I should be an M&S ambassador - forget Rosie Huntington-Whitely, here comes Susy Smith, although not, perhaps, for lingerie!

He was looking for inexpensive jeans for work. I suggested M&S. He looked doubtful but agreed to go give them a try. He found what he was looking for and bought a very nice shirt as well. A few weeks later he arrived with my daughter to join us for a Sunday roast dinner. I opened the door and exclaimed

“Wow! Josh! NICE coat! Very cool!”

“Isn’t it great mum?” my daughter Connie countered “guess where from!”

I rest my case.

As you may have guessed, this is all leading up to the recent catastrophic cyberattack, involving ransomware and data theft, that Marks and Spencer suffered and that they estimate will cost them £300 million this year in lost sales. This is huge!

Given all I have told you, you can imagine my dismay when their systems went down – I was trying to return something at the time and assumed it was a temporary blip. It was a day or two later when I learned the full extent of the issue.

The fact that a company as large, established and downright reliable as Marks & Spencer can have their systems hacked and be brought to a standstill, should make us all feel better about the odd everyday scam we have been taken in by.

So, no shopping from M&S for me for the moment. Or so I thought. Then we visited Bath for the weekend to see friends and went for a wander around the town, stopping off at a couple of artisan shops we like. Suddenly, we were were passing the M&S store.

“Shall we have a mooch?” I suggested

The place was busy - lots of folk feeding their habit in person rather than virtually. It felt weird to be actually walking around a shop, with lots of other people, and I realised I was quite enjoying the experience. I thought back to how, in the past, we would spend Saturdays trailing round the shops looking for something to wear to a party or to find a present for a friend. I hated it. Shopping online is so much simpler and much less time consuming

Then, a striking black and white shirt caught my eye. I beetled over.

“I knew you were headed for that” my husband said

“It’ll go perfectly with my wide leg black and white trousers”

He raised his eyes to heaven but knew it was futile to argue. At the cash desk I joined a queue - not an experience I have had for a long time, and here’s the thing, people were chatting - to each other and to the shop assistants. It was actually very nice to be sharing the event with other shoppers

“Oh I love that shirt” said the lady at the sales desk as she took it from me and laid it out on the counter top “it looks like something you’d buy in Anthropology, doesn’t it?”

I had to agree, and was rather pleased she felt I had made a good choice. The rarity of this type of encounter made it altogether a most pleasurable experience. I resolved to “go shopping” more often.

Then I heard this week that M&S were back and operational online once more. I was like a rat up a drainpipe. I didn’t actually buy anything. The back and white linen shirt will suffice for now, but it was just lovely to browse again knowing I could.

I should say I buy clothes in other places too - and, for those of you who would like to berate me for wasteful fast fashion, I keep most things for a very long time, (my husband would say far too long) but in the end, M&S tick most of the boxes for me allowing me to look stylish without, every older woman’s dread, looking like mutton dressed as lamb. All hail good old M&S!

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FOOTNOTE

You’re reading Home Truths, from me, Susy Smith. I write here on an eclectic mix of subjects about home and lifestyle. I am many things: a parent of grown-up kids, a dog owner, a gardener and a compulsive mover of vases (I worked for years as a stylist). I am also a writer/editor and former Editor-in-Chief of British Country Living Magazine.