M&S’s collaboration with Sienna Miller shows just how far the retailer will go in pursuit of cool

The store might be hoping to create a Kate Moss x Topshop effect for the 2020s, writes Holt

Set your reminders now – on Thursday (June 6), Marks and Spencer will continue its mission to become cooler than ever before by releasing a 29-piece collection in collaboration with Sienna Miller.

For anyone who loves the British actress’s brand of effortless boho chic with a polished edge, this is the first ever opportunity to buy into a high street collection which has had the actress’s personal input and sign off.

It’s undoubtedly a huge coup for M&S, which has performed an astonishing turnaround in recent years.

It has transformed from a high street store known only for its depressing sales figures and drab designs into the new darling of British fashion, with clothing and home sales up 5.3 per cent in the year ending 30 March 2024 and Gen Z-ers becoming fans.

Could Miller’s line coax even more fashion devotees back through its doors?

The store might be hoping to create a Kate Moss x Topshop effect for the 2020s. While it’s yet to be confirmed whether Miller will go as far as posing in a store window (as Moss famously did, bringing Oxford Street to a standstill in 2007) that collection remains a high point in the history of the British high street.

Sienna Miller x M&S

Indeed the designs – the first time the enigmatic Moss had offered her fans a chance to buy into her style – were so influential that they remain a point of obsession even now, almost 20 years on.

“With Noughties nostalgia showing no signs of slowing down, many Vogue editors have found themselves trawling through Vinted and eBay to get their hands on pre-loved Kate Moss for Topshop pieces,” an article on British Vogue website recently claimed,  “while others, who were there the first time around and still own their original purchases, and are taking this moment to dig them back out again.”

Miller is a similarly elusive figure to Moss and is best known for throwing together outfits which have the power to spark instant trends, whether it’s the chunky belts and pretty blouses she wore in the Noughties, low-key street style in the 2010s or the 40-something new mum glamour she’s become a posterwoman for over the last few months in slinky slip dresses and sheer bejewelled party gowns.

Even last week, images of her wearing wide-leg jeans and a blazer went viral as an ultra-desirable example of how we should be dressing for our damp squib of a summer.

Sienna Miller x M&S

The collaboration came about after the success of Miller’s role as the face of M&S’s own womenswear Autumn collection last year, even if at the time, Miller, being several months pregnant, was finding it difficult to get excited about new trends. When The Telegraph asked what was on her autumn/winter shopping list, she answered: “I am on the lookout for elasticated trousers and really baggy jumpers”.

“Working with Sienna last Autumn was a huge success, she fronted our Womenswear campaign, and our customers absolutely loved it. We saw style and brand perceptions increase, and data showed that more customers shopped the campaign than any previous Autumn campaign before. It was a no brainer for us to work with Sienna again,” Maddy Evans, M&S’s Womenswear Director and the woman credited with the brand’s turnaround, tells The Telegraph.

Evans is one of several members of M&S’s refreshed senior team who were working at  Topshop around the time of Moss’s collections (which ran from 2007-2010, with another in 2014) and will no doubt remember the halo of glamour which the association gave the label.

Other M&S veterans might have similarly fond memories of Alexa Chung’s 2016 collections for the brand, which until recently might have been the last time it felt truly fashion relevant (I know some people who still love and rewear the trench coats from that offering).

Sienna Miller x M&S

Can Miller –  who surely completes this holy trinity of modern British style leaders –  do the same for M&S now? “Her style is iconic, and she resonates with so many different women of all ages. By merging her iconic style with our design ethos we have created something really special,” Evans enthuses.

Like Moss and Chung’s collections before, Miller –  who gave birth to her second daughter in January and has made an astonishing style comeback since her first public appearance afterwards at the end of February – has mined her archive for the M&S collaboration, giving fans a chance to get a version of looks she’s worn on red carpets, at Glastonbury, at Wimbledon or even out and about on the school run.

You can be any version of Sienna you like, here. Quilted jackets (£65), flowy patterned trousers (£39.50) and floral blouses (£35) all epitomise the star in her noughties hippie heyday, a look which is conveniently back in fashion this summer thanks to Parisian fashion house Chloe’s revival under new creative director Chemena Kamali. Miller has been a face of the luxe take on the trend, wearing Kamali’s creations to the Met Gala and on the Cannes red carpet but the ruffle dresses in her M&S line (£89) are an approximation of the style with a more affordable price tag.

Sienna Miller x M&S

Party girl Sienna is catered to with beaded mini dresses (£89) and flowy ombre gowns (£65) while her pared-back, off-duty look can be replicated with white sailor jeans (£49.50), striped shirts (£35), khaki jackets (£55) and thong sandals (£49.50). There are nods to personal, rarely glimpsed parts of Miller’s wardrobe too, like a block-printed sarong (£25) based on a scarf given to her years ago by her father Edwin, a former art dealer and banker – it’s an especially poignant inclusion given her father is now suffering with Alzheimer’s.

M&S has run into trouble before trying to be all things, to all people. The store now seems to have unbridled confidence in the fashion-forward but ageless approach which has been so successful so far. Selling Sienna Miller’s wardrobe staples for less than £100-an-item might be the final piece of the jigsaw.

How Sienna Miller’s collection for M&S was inspired by her own wardrobe

The ruffle dress

On the red carpet in 2015; ruffle dress, £89

The beaded dress

At a premiere in 2015; beaded dress, £89

The ombre dress

At a charity gala in 2009; ombré dress, £65

The patterned trousers

At Glastonbury in 2022; printed trousers, £39.50

The khaki jacket and minimalist sandals

Out and about in New York in 2021; khaki jacket, £55 and thong sandals, £49.50

The boho belt 

At Wimbledon in 2022; coin-detailled belt, £29.50

The white jeans

At the French Open in 2022; white jeans, £49.50

The striped shirt

Leaving the Apollo Theatre, London after performing in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 2017; striped shirt, £35

M&S x Sienna Miller launches on Thursday June 6 at marksandspencer.com and in selected stores

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