SHANE WATSON'S verdict on the hotly-anticipated M&S autumn collection: Even Vogue editors are jostling to snap up quality pieces for less than £30...add these hero buys to your shopping list

Not so long ago Marks & Spencer was the nation’s trusted shop for undies with about as much serious fashion clout as Curry’s. Now the store’s new season preview is an unmissable date in the style calendar with Vogue fashion editors jostling in its showroom above the Strand in London’s West End to see what the high street giant has coming up. And I can report that this autumn M&S has shifted into fifth gear, after four consecutive years of steadily improving designs.On those Voguettes’ shopping list will be the Autograph tan cashmere crew neck (£90), the M&S woven black flat pumps (£50), the rhinestone mesh pumps (£55) and the £26 straight jeans that look vintage. But there’s so much more in store now for the style-conscious woman looking for newness in her wardrobe without spending much of her precious income.This season 55 per cent of the collection is £30 or less, 74 per cent of the outerwear is £70 or less. The message is we can do this: bring you great fashion on a tight budget.The woman behind it all, Maddy Evans, arrived in 2019 to begin the big fashion glow up we’re all now aware of. But this year has felt different. M&S held its first cruise collection in Ibiza in the Spring, copying the format of designers like Chanel and Prada. Then it staged a ‘catwalk’ show in the pitstops at Silverstone two months later. Autograph Sheer Sequin Dress £120, M&S Runway Leather Long Boot £140 M&S Brown Blazer Coat £70, M&S Check Funnel Jumper £36, M&S Runway Leather Long Boot £140, M&S Dayla Covered Hardware Burgundy £36, M&S Aviator Sunglasses Brown Mix £16, M&S White Denim Skirt £40 M&S Button Asymmetric Blazer £58, M&S Collection Red Funnel Neck Jumper £95, M&S Barrel Leg Trousers £35, M&S Slim Sunglasses £16In the September issue of British Vogue, a pair of M&S £28 wide leg ecru jeans featured alongside clothes from the biggest luxury designers in the business. And in two weeks’ time, for the first time, M&S will show at London Fashion Week. We know the store is nailing it in terms of reliability and quality and ‘style perception’ - it’s the number one UK fashion retailer by this metric according to a summer YouGov report - and now it’s going for the big prize: Fashion that turns heads while remaining accessible.And this morning/yesterday in the West End showroom, there are too many great value ‘hero’ pieces to choose from. First up is a new interpretation of ‘the everyday trousers and a jacket’ combination that is most women’s working wardrobe. There’s a new look blazer - a one-button, stand-up collar, sculptural grey jacket with a sweeping parted front (£58) that Evans herself is wearing today and, even close up, looks a lot like Armani. Wear it over a just-the-right-shade of chilli red M&S turtle neck sweater (£95) with the camel coloured chinos with an inverted side pleat (£35).This is the new silhouette - slim jacket with fuller trousers - made wearable. If your taste skews more towards Prada than Armani, then an M&S chunky-lapelled longer-line blazer in a donkey brown (£70) worn with a slightly fitted pale striped shirt (£18) and cargo pants (£38) is another new smart daywear option. Finish them off with an M&S woven black flat pump (just the right shape) that looks like it’s walked off the Bottega Veneta catwalk (£50) and you have a whole outfit for under £130. M&S Collection Brown Croc Peplum Jacket £70, M&S Collection Blue Stripe Shirt £18, M&S Collection Denim Cargo Trousers £40, M&S High Vamp Croc £50, M&S Black Belt £16 Autograph Heavy Satin Skirt £60, Autograph Multi Fur Jacket £225, Autograph Wrap Blouse £60, M&S Brown Satin Court Shoes £45 Jaeger Wrap Coat £325, Jaeger Fairisle Mohair Wool Mix Jumper £135, Jaeger Textured Jersey Culotte £99 M&S Maeve Long Leather Gloves £40, M&S Fur Belt Coat £100, M&S Lace Pencil Skirt £40, M&S Brown Satin Court Shoes, £45 Jaeger Embellished Party Barrel Trouser £99, Jaeger Pure Wool Tux Jacket £175, Jaeger Leather Court Heel £125 M&S, Button Asyn Blazer £58, M&S Collection Red Funnel Neck Jumper £95, M&S Barrel Leg Trousers £35, M&S Studded Leather Brown Pump £50, M&S Slim Sunglasses £16 Autograph Heavy Satin Skirt £60, Autograph Multi Fur Jacket £225, M&S Brown Satin Court Shoes £45 M&S Pinstripe DB Blazer £85, Pinstripe Double Please Trouser £46, Faux Fur Jacket £70, Malin Leather Chisel Toe Court Grey £55 Autograph Sheer Sequin Dress £120, M&S Eddy Faux Feather Clutch £36If you love tailoring, and you’re more in the mood for a suit, the one featured in M&S’s new ad campaign - a grey double-breasted pinstripe (£85) with wide pleat-front trousers (£46) - moves on the double-breasted look while keeping it within the accessible everywoman promise.And something fresh and smart for the skirt wearers, from the more expensive Autograph range, is a chic heavy satin lilac grey skirt (£60) and crème caramel coloured blouse (£60) with a patchwork fur blouson jacket to shrug on top (£225). This sums up the mood of the season: elegant, ladylike but easy and playful; you could wear this to the office without the jacket, and then out.The pinched economy may be the team’s driving consideration, but this team love and know fashion so they are hellbent on giving their customers the best and brightest for their cash.What feels noticeably better than last year is the quality of the fabrics. There’s real cashmere for £90 (great value), but also a buttery grey funnel neck sweater that only an expert could tell was not cashmere (£45). An ivory drummer boy crop jacket with frogging fastenings (very Armani again, £58) feels and looks like heavy silk shantung but is in fact a polyester-viscose mix; and a black heavy midi skirt (they would make a smart outfit together) looks satin but is nothing of the sort and only £40.This heavy satin look fabric features heavily in the new campaign and while most fifty-plus women won’t rush to buy the inky blue mini skirt (£28) - the matching zip-up funnel neck sculpted jacket with blouson sleeves (£65) is flattering feminine and modern - the top three requirements for a grown up woman’s wardrobe. Most of the M&S team have ordered one for themselves. Jaeger Pure Wool Tux Jacket £175, M&S Aviator Sunglasses Black £16 M&S Maeve Long Leather Gloves £40, M&S Fur Belt Coat £100, M&S Ellie Bowler Black, £95 M&S, Dacey Patchwork Folder, £40 M&S, Slim Stitch Shoulder Burgundy, £40 M&S, Sparkly High Vamp Pump, £55 M&S, Lina Toe High Vamp Black £50An Autograph collection sheer sequin dress (£120) is straight out of the Prada playbook - too exposing for many of us, but not if you keep your coat on - and M&S has provided a bunch of fabulous faux fur options including a fluffy chubby jacket with just the right amount of tip texture (£70) to shrug on with everything including that pinstripe suit.Perhaps surprisingly the number one selling M&S trouser is a £38 sandstone cotton barrel shape with cargo pockets - they have are poppers on the ankles so can convert into a wide-leg pair of cargo trousers. Evans tells me that that’s the versatility promise combined with a great cut that hinges on the placing of the front pleat. They can’t stock it fast enough.Interestingly, the market in dresses is down, and, although there will be more coming through for party season, for now M&S is focusing on versatile separates – tailoring and jeans. ‘Between September to December we’re planning to sell 3 million pairs of jeans… and it’s all about barrel or balloon styles’ says Evans. I clearly look surprised because she adds: ‘We don’t do (i)extreme(i). This is the most flattering version of the look.’ When she arrived in 2019, 75 per cent of jeans sales were skinnies. Now the best-selling straight jean in a mid-wash looks like vintage and it’s £26.Another big shift (40 per cent since last year) is away from trainers into shoes and M&S has put more investment into shoes and bags. There’s a good pair of black Isabel Marant-adjacent cone-heeled knee boots (£140) and a gorgeous mesh pump studded with glittering faux rhinestones (£55) that will be a party must-have for all ages. I was desperate to see the new bags, but some of them have a way to go before they’re up to the standard of the rest of what’s on offer. Still you can’t have everything.This collection feels more polished and properly Fashion without being intimidating. ‘You can wear this, and here’s how’ has always been the Maddy Evans philosophy and there’s very little here that wouldn’t work at any age. The only question now is can it keep those furs and jeans coming fast enough to meet demand.