Two pieces of news have landed this week that actually matter to the question of new-season wardrobe trends, which is more than can usually be said for the mid-January noise. M&S has announced a collaboration with Aries, the vintage-inflected streetwear label, and And Other Stories has arrived on ASOS with same-day delivery. Both are worth your attention, and neither requires the suspension of critical faculties that most trend edits demand.
The M&S x Aries collaboration: what it actually is
Let us start with the M&S piece, because it is the one generating the most conversation, and with some justification. According to Stylist, the collection is a 26-piece capsule, conceived to work as a complete wardrobe rather than a loose assortment of trend references. That distinction matters. A capsule built with internal logic means the pieces can actually be worn together, which is the point of buying into a collaboration rather than simply buying separates from two different rails.
The styling reported centres on pinstriped tailoring worn with T-shirts carrying a mashed-up Aries/St Michael logo, which is the kind of detail that makes a collaboration feel specific rather than generic. Silk, jersey and cashmere are listed among the fabrics, and the collection plays with contrasting proportions throughout. It is, in short, doing what good tailoring-casual dressing always does: using the tension between formal and relaxed to create something that reads as deliberate rather than merely comfortable. Marks & Spencer has been building credibility in this space for some time, and a partnership with a label like Aries is the sort of move that consolidates rather than manufactures that position.
The vintage-inspired framing is worth taking seriously here. There is a version of “vintage-inspired” that means washed-out florals and nothing more; this is not that. Aries has always worked with the kind of archival references that reward a second look, and the St Michael logo riff is a clever piece of self-awareness from M&S. The brand is leaning into its own history rather than away from it.
And Other Stories on ASOS: new-season wardrobe trends made more accessible
The second development is quieter but practically useful. Grazia Daily reports that And Other Stories has just launched on ASOS, bringing the Scandi brand’s midi dresses, co-ords and accessories to a platform that offers same-day delivery. For a label whose design language has always been slightly more considered than its price point suggests, wider distribution is genuinely good news.
And Other Stories occupies an interesting position. It is not a luxury brand, but it dresses like one in certain lights: the proportions are usually right, the colour palette disciplined, the accessories thoughtful. A midi dress from the Stockholm-based label tends to drape better than the price implies, and the co-ordinating pieces, when worn together rather than mixed haphazardly, can read as a complete considered outfit. The addition of same-day delivery via ASOS removes one of the main objections to buying from the brand for those outside its standalone store locations.
In terms of where these two developments sit within the broader picture of new-season wardrobe trends: both point in the same direction. The appetite right now is for pieces with some internal coherence, whether that is the logic of a 26-piece capsule designed to generate multiple combinations, or the Scandinavian discipline of a brand that has never really chased a trend it did not believe in. The maximalist free-for-all of recent seasons is resolving, slowly, into something more considered.
The M&S x Aries capsule, as Stylist notes, has been curated with the specific intention of generating endless ways to style it, which is the right brief for a new-season wardrobe. A collection that only works one way is not a wardrobe; it is a costume. The collaboration appears to understand the difference.
