The M&S museum

To help me develop a greater relationship with the previous design conventions of marks and spencers, I visited the M&S museum. Historical exhibitions were displayed over many themes including: Employee's Welfare, Food, Lingerie, Men's Wear, Women's Wear and Packaging.

When looking into the historical realms of M&S I sourced a knowledge surrounding  their relationship with food. I found that M&S didn't have an independent food store until 1965 as beforehand the shop had also been associated with clothing. I also discovered that M&S is very prominent with trends and technology as over the years they have become renown for being the first in their sector to have such items. Thus giving them an influential difference between themselves and competitors. The welfare of customers is also an extenuating factor present, as they were also one of the first companies to introduce low salt and fat ready meals.

I also looked closely at the relationship between M&S and clothing. I found that over time it has become part of their brand identity to supply sensible, durable and comfortable clothing. One aspect that displays this is the research they conducted into the sizing of stockings as a previous 'one size fits all' approach did not highlight their relationship with quality. When looking at the clothing I also discovered that a skirt made famous in 2015 by Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo, which was designed in relation to the company's 1970's archive. I really like the idea of 'recycling' ideas and trends as it creates an element of meaning and contextuality behind a product.