SHANE WATSON: M&S joins exclusive brands Burberry, Erdem and McQueen on the catwalk of London Fashion Week for the very first time... so did the sparks fly for Marks and Sparks?

Where do you find football pundit Ian Wright rubbing shoulders with Dame Joan Collins and operatic soprano Katherine Jenkins, model David Gandy and Jamie Redknapp?

Or Plum Sykes, American Vogue contributing editor, deep in conversation with Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition?

Believe it or not, in the front row at the first ever M&S fashion show at London Fashion Week, held at the Design Museum in Kensington.

The show at lunchtime yesterday was the surprise hot ticket and for the first time in its history the high street store that sells a bra every three seconds has joined the likes of exclusive British fashion brands Burberry, Erdem and McQueen on the fashion week schedule.

Mindful that M&S is all about accessibility, the 'see now buy now' collection was instantly available to buy online or in one of ten flagship stores across the UK.

This is M&S's fashion centenary year hence the full-blown fashion show, but the 300-plus celebrities, influencers, and fashion press (including the grande dame of fashion writers Suzy Menkes) were there to see whether the household brand could do catwalk-worthy, fashion-forward clothes while remaining affordable (half this collection costs under £50) and wearable.

So, did the sparks fly for Marks and Sparks?

This was no tick the boxes mid-market fashion show but a cool, pulse-quickening event with the atmosphere of a Nineties London show – when Kate Moss walked the runways, and Vanity Fair featured Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit on the cover under the headline Cool Britannia: London Swings Again!

Kirsty Hume walks the runway at the M&S show during London Fashion Week September 2026

Lennon Gallagher struts the runway in a grey suit and cotton crew neck jumper 

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was spotted at the event 

A model wearing a long white winter coat with fur cuffs 

Erin O'Connor walks the runway at the M&S show during London Fashion Week

Jodie Kidd also appeared on the runway

Lennon Gallagher, the 27-year-old model/musician son of Liam, slunk along the runway not in a parka, but a well-cut pale tailored suit, watched by his cousin, 26-year-old model/photographer Anais Gallagher, daughter of Noel, sitting front row.

But you could hear the collective intake of breath as one by one the top British female models of the Nineties – Kirsty Hume, 50, Erin O'Connor, 48, Jodie Kidd, 47, among them – no less famous than the Gallagher brothers at the time – sashayed down the stairs and through the space to the booming, seat-vibrating soundtrack of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy (different decade but rousingly nostalgic nonetheless).

The 'Frow' was refreshingly age diverse – 38-year-old AJ Odudu of Big Brother fame, 85-year-old designer Dame Zandra Rhodes – and as 46-year-old Kemi Badenoch remarked, neat and petite in a Reiss teal tailored trouser suit, it was great to see a mixture of models on the catwalks including older ones who she knew from her teens.

'British fashion is such a key and booming part of the economy – it employs so many people,' she said after the show. 'I came here to support the industry. And now of course I'm ready to go shopping.'

There was plenty here for Kemi – and not just her go-to ('they cover a multitude of sins') trouser suits. From some khaki crinkly wash-and-go trousers in a great slim barrel cut (£36), worn with a red quarter zip sweater (£40), to a sand-coloured faux-fur-lined utility jacket (£110).

A sumptuous, belted ginger faux fur trench coat that looks and feels (I can confirm) as good as MaxMara costs a staggeringly reasonable £150.

You can't get a T-shirt for that at Burberry.

The good-looking clothes kept on coming: An ivory fluid cape shouldered dress (£65) worn with slouchy boots (£125) had a hint of London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic about it and looked just as expensive.

Karen Elson in a slick black sequin slip dress was a stand-out moment, and though it won't be for everyone it's a fabulous party dress for £120. Those of us who were looking for slithery black frocks in the Nineties could only have dreamt of finding something so well made and affordable.

It was an outing for the nepo-babies, as Anais Gallagher watched on as her cousin Lennon took to the runway

On the runway itself, Lennon Gallagher showcased Marks' famous men's collection, with his cousin Anais watching on 

Katherine arrived in an elegant brown satin dress and a matching trench coat

AJ Odudu continued her own affiliation with the brand in a grey co-ord

Iconic model Jodie Kidd offered a glimpse of her famous figure in a cropped green bralet while posing backstage as she prepared to take to the runway

Jodie sported the revealing bralet with a leather pencil skirt and trench coat as she took to the catwalk for the show

Jamie Redknapp cosied up to his wife Frida as they arrived for the fashion show together

Ian Wright, a longtime M&S ambassador, arrived for the runway show with Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe, also known as Melissa's Wardrobe

Sian was joined by her Capital Breakfast co-host Jordan North to sit on the front row

Out of 43 outfits there were roughly 39 that ordinary women could take home today but the real surprise was how slick, polished and sophisticated this show felt.

I wasn't at the Ibiza show earlier in the summer (this is Marks and Spencer's third runway show this year) but from the pictures it looked like a high street label struggling to look substantial.

This event, by contrast, could have been on the Paris or New York schedule. Something else remarkable you don't often

see at a fashion show: Models streaming out for their final walkabout smiling from ear to ear, occasionally waving to an old friend in the crowd.

M&S may have gone back to the archives for inspiration for this show but no one in the minimalist surroundings of the Design Museum was in any doubt that this has sealed Marks and Spencer as a bright fashion name for the future.

Most extraordinary is that they're taking their valued customers with them – Joan and Kemi included.