BHS aims for fashion – but does its new collection work?

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2014/may/22/bhs-fashion-first-collection-philip-green-marks-and-spencer

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It's fair to say BHS doesn't exactly inspire fevered excitement from fashion insiders. It's full title of British Home Stores conveys exactly what it is – a cosy place to pick up bedding, rather than a place to get your hands on the latest high-street take on trends. But the company, part of the Arcadia group, is now trying to change that perception. After discovering that it is older women – often pensioners – who make up the majority of their fashion customers, they have set their sights on a younger demographic. Women in your 50s, watch out – BHS has you in their sights.

At a London presentation of its autumn/winter 2014 collection today, Sir Philip Green was on hand to convey the seriousness of the brand's new fashion mission. Green, whose Arcadia group also includes Topshop, has seen the falling sales figures at rival Marks & Spencer, and smells blood. BHS – an ailing brand with losses of £71m in 2013 – is out to take the place of M&S as the grown-up, sensible face of style.

So does it work? None of the clothes here break the mould, and some, like the shift dresses, look a little sad. But there are definitely pieces that could encroach on M&S's territory. One collection has just the tiniest bit of Celine AW13, with power pastels of pinks and greys, and tweedy coats in charcoal. Another, dubbed "the Marais" is a homage to Isabel Marant's bohemian Parisian look – with peasant blouses, slouchy jumpers and trackie pant shapes. There's also the inevitable heritage range, with a Barbour-like jacket, flat biker boots and a Liberty print-esque patterned blouse.

All at under-£100 prices – the collarless coat is around £60 – these are clothes that will no doubt appeal to that fiftysomething customer who wants the broad brushstrokes of fashion, rather than the bleeding-edge cool of, say, Topshop. There are plenty of sleeves and sensible skirt lengths but there's also a nod – however cursory – to the catwalk that wasn't there before. They clothes won't scare the horses but, at the same time, they feel just new enough.