Tonight:
5°c
IT was a clear case of the Empress's New Clothes. Hundreds of Sex And The City fans queued outside M&S today to be first in line for the hugely hyped new clothing range designed by the show's stylist, Patricia Field.
But on the hanger, these lust-have garments seemed exactly what they are cheap, tacky and utterly misconceived. What were they even doing in our beloved Marks and Sparks?
The collection was dreamed up by M&S head of womenswear, Kate Bostock, to target "fashion savvy" shoppers in the hope it would give M&S some of the cachet of Topshop's Kate Moss collection. Instead it seems to have dragged the beleaguered store to new depths.
Although some customers immediately declared it "very Sex And The City", I can't imagine any woman with a stylish bone in her body being seen dead in these get-ups. Each item is instantly recognisable from the acres of slavish media coverage the creations have already attracted, making the 60-piece collection a fashionista's no-go zone.
And why bother about being cutting edge, when the cut itself is so shoddy? The dresses are made from flimsy fabrics and suffer from seriously stingy tailoring. Don't even think about it unless you're a size six, girlfriend. The clothes might look cheap, but most come in well above £60 top-of-the-range prices for M&S.
Nonetheless Sophie Waterfield, 20, a student who bought a blue slit-sleeve dress (£75), said: "I love this dress, it's the same as the one Carrie wore in the movie I have to have it".
Helen Low, 34, a designer who bought the star-print shift dress (£65), said the designs were "classic", while Sonia Hagger, 29, snapped up the black sequin jacket (£99), saying: "I went online and bought some bits this morning but I had to have this jacket too." The thing that seems to have escaped these women is that you need to look like Sarah Jessica Parker a decade ago to get away with these garish garments.
Ms Field is an unusual choice for M&S. She is renowned for her unconventional ideas, more often associated with fancy dress and drag queens than M&S shoppers. But her clever and highly original styling of Carrie Bradshaw brought her fresh popularity as a fashion icon.
The appeal of the show's look with its connotations of sexual liberation and a hedonistic lifestyle, has been immense. You can see why Ms Bostock thought Ms Field, who also worked on Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada, would be the perfect choice for a project of this kind. Had she never visited the new Field store in New York's Bowery district? It's packed to the rafters with unwearable pieces of tat.
The M&S range may be a toned down version of the stylist's taste, but much of it is still OTT and like so much of what's come out of Sex And The City downright tarty.
"It's about appealing to all the different women that shop at M&S," said Ms Bostock today. "Patricia's ideas go beyond fashion in some ways it's about great iconic pieces that women will love having in their wardrobes and which they can wear over and over again". Or perhaps like having a wardrobe full of embarrassing impulse buys that never see the light of day.
But today even the high prices didn't seem to bother customers. Good news for M&S, who only weeks ago announced a slump of six per cent in profits. The collection went live online at midnight last night and some key pieces are already sold out. So maybe I'm just too old for the Patricia Field collection. But I do know one thing: if you're wearing these dresses, you'll never find Mr Big. Even in the credit crunch.
