What do you think of when you think of John Lewis? Dependable electrics. Pots and pans. Gleaming make-up counters. Hold all those thoughts because the nation’s best known everything-under-one-roof department store has set its sights on becoming the shop that women think of when we think about Fashion, with a capital F.
In fact, the style crowd is starting to take the nation’s cherished store rather seriously (personal stylist appointments are up 26 per cent and there is at least one fashion editor who swears by their service). Times are changing at John Lewis.
The two women driving this change are Queralt Ferrer, design director in charge of the brand for the past two years, and Rachel Morgans who was appointed director of fashion in May.
Together they’re making reliable (and once again ‘never knowingly undersold’) John Lewis into a place where as Morgans says ‘you can get your plates and cups, and then browse the rails of Barbour and Mango or Sister Jane’ – or Whistles, Hush or NRBY – the list goes on.
Queralt Ferrer, design director, and director of fashion Rachel Morgans are the driving force behind John Lewis’s recent success
Over the past year they’ve introduced 109 new brands, and that’s not counting the store’s three in-house labels or the new collaboration with avant-garde London designer A.W.A.K.E Mode.
Morgans, wearing a tailored black A.W.A.K.E jacket that looks like it’s straight off a London Fashion Week catwalk, and Ferrer (belted tweed jacket, midi skirt and lug-soled boots) are part of a velvet revolution at John Lewis.
‘I think the customer wants to fall in love with something’ says Morgans, ‘So it’s important that we have those special things that you can’t find somewhere else. And what’s amazing about John Lewis is we sell a £10 T shirt and a £110 T shirt. So we’re not walking away from our heartland. We’re widening our customer base.’
I’d always assumed their basic Any Day range, which never exceeds £100, was useful for those £10 T shirts – and that’s about it. But this autumn’s offering includes a grey wool scarf jacket (round necked with an attached swagger of a scarf in the same fabric) which looks fresh and smart for a remarkable £69, and a neat, black longline waistcoat which you could wear with the label’s relaxed grey tailored trousers (both £45) to make a modern outfit for the office.
John Lewis’s grey wool scarf jacket (round necked with an attached swagger of a scarf in the same fabric) looks fresh and smart for a remarkable £69, Shane Watson writes
Their And/Or range, based around denim and what Ferrer describes as ‘a kind of LA vibe’, includes a smart midi tan suede skirt (£199), and it did include a beautifully proportioned dark tan suede trench coat (£399) until that sold out within weeks. Quite an eye opener.
Finally, there’s the jewel in the crown, the John Lewis label – their classic collectable range. Highlights that are selling fast, range from a camel wrap scarf coat (£179) and burgundy leather loafers (£79), to a cashmere crew neck cardigan in that on-the-fashion-bullseye ice pink (£95), and an olive green cashmere round neck sweater (£89). These are the best colours and shapes in knitwear I’ve seen on the high street so far – and their cashmere sales are up 36 per cent, year on year.
The John Lewis label includes this cashmere cardigan, in the pink shade of the moment
Neither woman is surprised that the John Lewis customer is wearing pink over olive cashmere, Prada style, and rushing to buy a suede trench at a higher price point. ‘She is bold’ says Ferrer ‘and she’s prepared to pay a bit more if she knows she’ll have something forever.’
Great quality at a great price is a big part of their mission statement. ‘The John Lewis brand is about those timeless modern perfect pieces that you can build over the years and co-ordinate easily’ says Ferrer. ‘Good cuts, quality fabrics, things that will last that you will enjoy wearing year after year.’
This navy cape cardigan from John Lewis looks like something from a high-end Danish label
There’s been a lot of focus on the details too. A navy cape cardigan (£55) has beaten silver buttons that look like something you’d find on a high-end Danish label. Add a pair of their black extreme wide leg trousers (£99) and a neat burgundy handbag with gleaming gold hardware (£79) – all John Lewis label – and you’ll look as put together as a Scandinavian fashion influencer, which is to say chic, modern and expensive.
It’s a shift that bears comparison with Marks and Spencer’s glow-up over the same relatively recent period. Are the heads of design aware of going head to head with the country’s other beloved brand?
‘Does it need to be a rivalry?’ Morgans says. ‘What they do is great. There is room for both of us and the customer should have choice.’
Ultimately, they say, it’s about trust. The plan is to give us more of better, and for now my money’s on that pink cardigan.