Are these REALLY the women to save M&S? A foul-mouthed sex-obsessed artist, a topless pop princess and the racy grande dame of British drama
- Inspirational dozen feature in new Marks & Spencers campaign
- The group includes Dame Helen Mirren, Tracy Emin and Ellie Goulding
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Gone are the days when M&S adverts consisted of Twiggy and Dannii Minogue whirling around in pretty dresses with warm, approachable smiles on their faces.
In their place is a new blockbuster ad campaign featuring 12 high-flying women who look like they could be attending a UN summit.
The main portrait of the group, which was shot at astounding cost — upwards of £100,000 — at Cliveden Hotel in Buckinghamshire by celebrated snapper Annie Leibovitz, features everyone from artist Tracey Emin to the chief executive of Save The Children, Jasmine Whitbread.
Leading ladies: From left to right are Monica Ali Ellie Goulding Karen Elson Katie Piper Helen Allen Darcy Bussell Jasmine Whitbread Helen Mirren Nicola Adams Tracey Emin
Actress Dame Helen Mirren, who stars in the campaign, says these women represent the ‘ultimate dinner party’ guests — but, judging by Emin’s ferocious scowl, this might be up for debate.
Indeed, many are questioning whether Emin is an appropriate ambassador for such a respectable, well-loved brand as M&S. As a rather knackered looking 50-year-old party animal, at the tail end of her reign as the enfant terrible of the Brit Art scene, she has long courted controversy.
She describes herself as ‘single’ and ‘unloved’, has talked in horrifying detail about her promiscuity and is best known for presenting a condom-strewn bed as art.
She once made a film which showed women masturbating and has talked openly about being raped at 13, after which she says she became a ‘slag’ and slept with half of Margate. She’s also pronounced on her suicide attempt and two abortions.
Her love of drinking is also legendary — she was carried to her car virtually unconscious after the 2010 GQ awards and once appeared intoxicated during a televised debate about the Turner Prize, bawling: ‘I want to be with my friends. I’m drunk. I want to phone my mum.’
Pride of Britain: The 12 inspirational women are starring in Marks & Spencers' autumn campaign
The controversial artist is friends with party-loving Kate Moss and the supermodel has been pictured groping Emin’s voluptuous cleavage on a night out in London .
M&S fan and former model Jilly Johnson, 59, is just one of those who are horrified that Emin has been included in the campaign.
‘Tracey tends to look like she’s been pulled through a hedge backwards. I certainly wouldn’t hold her up as a fashion icon.’
Customers took to Twitter to share their disbelief at Emin’s inclusion. ‘Is this a joke?’ wrote one. ‘I don’t know if I want to buy into an M&S brand of luxury fronted by Tracey Emin,’ wrote another. ‘I definitely don’t need extra help to be dressed like an unmade bed with scattered pigeon poop.’
Others have criticised Emin, who has made her name as an anti-establishment figure, for fronting a campaign for such a mainstream brand.
As one commentator quipped, parroting M&S’s slogan: ‘This is not just any sellout, but an art world, once-subversive M&S sellout.’ Emin may be modelling, but she has limited interest in fashion and admitted that when she was younger she made her own clothes out of curtains.
Controversial: The campaign, shot by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, has been criticized over the models selected with some arguing that not all are suitable M&S models
The new campaign, which looks strikingly similar to Leibovitz’s pictures for glossy American magazine Vanity Fair, is certainly arresting — if more than a little full of itself.
Marketing director Steven Sharp claims the result is ‘modern portraiture’ and adds: ‘We want to be taken seriously.’
But will middle-class British women want to buy shoes and dresses because some ‘alpha female’ shot them a stern look over the soft furnishings? We shall see.
One thing is for sure — there is little trace of the cosy style of previous M&S ads. The girls-next-door have been axed, including 63-year-old Twiggy. M&S claims that this re-jig is all part of a ‘Womanist campaign… designed to celebrate women. To whom clothes are presumably important’.
These claims aside, the ad campaign is clearly designed to turn around the fortunes of the store, which has seen eight consecutive quarters of declining sales.
The new models are dressed in the first collection from new style director Belinda Earl, who has taken the brand upmarket, with more cashmere, silk and sharp tailoring.
Not everyone is impressed. One customer harrumphed online: ‘I for one won’t be swayed by whoever is modelling the clothes...It is the clothes I am interested in, not who is wearing them.’
Posing princesses: Singer Ellie Goulding has just bagged her first UK number 1 and Tracey Emin is one of Britain's most successful female artists
THE FOUL-MOUTHED EXHIBITIONIST
Tracey Emin, 50, artist
Self-proclaimed ‘Mad Tracey from Margate’ burst on the art scene in 1997 with a tent on which she’d appliqued the names of the 103 people she’d slept with.
Has appeared drunk and foul-mouthed on TV, been so inebriated she’s been carried out of awards shows — why M&S thought she’d appeal to its middle-class customers is anyone’s guess.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? She claims to. Though usually pictured spilling out of Vivienne Westwood dresses, she told OK! magazine she wears M&S pants. She’s got the store’s credit card and says ‘I spend half my life in M&S pyjamas’.
THE PEROXIDE POP STAR
Ellie Goulding, 26, singer-songwriter
Ellie's greatest hit is a cover of Elton John’s Your Song, which she sang for William and Kate’s first dance at the Royal Wedding reception, but the singer’s image is not quite as pure as her voice. Ellie has worked her way through a string of DJ boyfriends, and current squeeze is War Horse actor Jeremy Irvine.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Unlikely. When not posing for Fault magazine with chainmail draped across her breasts, Ellie’s in crop tops, suspender tights, leather hotpants and teeny dresses. Says her favourite brand is Topshop.
Celtic queens: Model Karen Elson and Vogue Executive Grace Coddington are at the forefront of fashion
THE FASHION ‘FREAK’
Karen Elson, 34, model
Dubbed the ‘freak’ of British fashion because of her alabaster skin and bright red hair, Karen made headlines for her tragic love life. Boyfriend Raphael de Rothschild died of a heroin overdose, and she went on to marry oddball U.S. musician Jack White of the White Stripes. Their friendly split descended into a custody battle over children Scarlett, seven, and Henry, six, earlier this month, when Karen took out a restraining order against White.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Doubtful, she is usually found in Chanel and Alexander McQueen. Also appeared in a Jean Paul Gaultier ad topless, having her breasts cupped from behind.
THE STYLE QUEEN
Grace Coddington, 72, U.S. Vogue executive
She wears like a trooper, has a mane of red Celtic hair and counts Vogue editor Anna Wintour as a friend — there is nothing Middle England about Grace Coddington. The fashion legend, born in Anglesey, gave up her modelling career to move behind the scenes aged 26. After two failed six-month marriages, she is settled in New York with hair stylist partner Didier Malige.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? She has top designers on speed-dial, and has often spoken of how France is far superior in style to Britain.
Fighters: Katie Piper survived an acid attack and became an inspiration to thousands and lesser known Helen Allen has been named Nurse of the Year
THE SCARRED SURVIVOR
Katie Piper, 29, acid attack victim
After Katie’s ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch arranged for acid to be thrown in her face in 2008, the former model appeared in a C4 documentary which won her many fans. Her sweet smile and slowly healing face have become well loved, so a savvy choice for M&S.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? A fan of glamorous, fitted dresses — Reiss, Topshop and Lipsy for everyday, Victoria Beckham for red carpet events.
THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Helen Allen, 34, nurse
Helen lives in Manchester with husband Mike and children George, six, and Sophie, five, Named Nurse of the Year in 2011 by the British Journal Of Nursing, she works part-time at Wythenshawe Hospital and runs her Aids awareness charity PEPAIDS.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Who knows? But as a nurse and mum-of-two, you’d think so.
Prima women: Darcey Bussell rules the roost on Strictly Come Dancing and Jasmine Whitbread is in charge of world-wide charity Save The Children
STRICTLY’S PRIMA DONNA
Darcey Bussell, 44, ex-ballerina
She was the queen of English ballet, but when Darcey took to the judge’s chair on Strictly, she was dismissed as dull. Bussell, who lives with hedge-fund manager husband Angus Forbes and daughters Phoebe, 12, and Zoe, eight, still has a willowy figure and stick-thin legs.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Two weeks ago she said Zara was her favourite High Street store.
THE CHARITY CHIEF
Jasmine Whitbread, 49, CEO of Save the Children
She juggles her worthy job with life at home in Oxfordshire with husband Howard and children Holly, 18, and Felix, 16.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? With a six-figure salary, you’d imagine not. Tends to favour well-cut suits.
With a bang: the grande dame of drama Helen Mirren is an inspiration to many, as is Olympic gold medallist, Nicole Adams, who punched her way into British hearts when she became a boxing champ at London 2012
HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY
Dame Helen Mirren, 68, actress
Like Twiggy, the new M&S matriarch is an ageless national treasure, but this one courts controversy. Mirren won an Oscar for The Queen, but that hasn’t stopped her going topless, dying her hair pink or admitting she used to ‘love’ cocaine. The Dame also litters her awards speeches with the F-word.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? The actress claims ‘M&S is a big part of my life’ and says ‘I buy my underwear and basics there’. Though she says designer clothes are ‘insane’, her bikinis come from French lingerie houses and those cleavage-enhancing red dresses are by Jenny Packham and Vivienne Westwood.
THE HARD-HITTER
Nicola Adams, 30, boxer
Nicola won over the public when she boxed her way to gold at the Olympics. A less obvious choice than Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Perhaps, though she doesn’t look entirely comfortable in the dress M&S stuck her in.
On the edge: Singer Laura Mvula's breakthrough came this year and Monica Ali shot to writing fame after her 2004 novel Brick Lane about East London life
THE SOUL SINGER
Laura Mvula, 26, singer-songwriter
The Birmingham pop star whose debut album went Top Ten.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Claims to be a ‘High Street girl’ but her minimalist white dresses and biker jackets are about as far from Per Una as you can get.
THE EDGY WRITER
Monica Ali, 45, novelist
Ali first novel, Brick Lane, so angered East London’s Bangladeshi community they demonstrated against it. The writer, who lives in South London with her husband and two children, also wrote a book imagining Princess Diana faked her death.
DOES SHE WEAR M&S? Maybe. Admits spending her days writing in ‘the same smelly pyjamas’. Perhaps M&S should treat her to a new pair.
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