The new M&S campaign

Photographer: Annie Leibowitz for M&S

... is most disappointing. M&S have put together a bunch of highly accomplished women on top of their profession, dressed them in their new collection, got Annie Leibowitz to photograph them and now they hope to win customers. The idea behind this very expensive stunt is to identify British women who can be aspirational and who can inspire people to flock to M&S stores and buy the clothes. I love and respect all of the women, I really do, but

1. I am so very tired of seeing Helen Mirren as representative of older women. Surely, there must be other older British women who can fit the bill?

2. The thought of Tracey Emin wearing M&S is hilarious. Excuse me, Tracey...Emin...in... M&S?

3. The same can be said about the ethereal Darcey Bussels who always appears elegantly dressed by various top designers - Darcey is not your average M&S customer.

4. As Cambridge don and TV celebrity Mary Beard tweeted, not a sign of grey hair. Helen Mirren's hair is hardly ever grey, always mixed with blonde shades and this time it is carefully hidden under a hat.

5. What's wrong with hiring professional models to wear the clothes? I thought this was what fashion models did as a job. 

What a U turn from last year, when M&S ditched celebrities and had models, including Yasmina Rossi, with her gorgeous silver hair. 

Denise O'Neill in The Belfast Telegraph

Denise O'Neill, recently featured in The Belfast Telegraph as a spokeswoman for grey hair, has commented as follows in a thread started by White Hot Hair founder Jayne Mayled: 

"I think it does matter that there are no greys as it is not fully representative of women. I actually wrote to M&S 3 years ago on this very subject, ie suggesting that they use grey-haired women in the advertising. At that time I stated that they only use a single grey-haired (older) model for advertising their ‘Classic’ brand (which tends to be geared towards the older lady) and never in their more modern clothing brands. This is the very message that we are trying to change. We want to see chic and sassy beautiful grey-haired women in mainstream advertising of fashion, beauty etc – and breaking the stereotypical myth that grey = old. In last year’s M&S campaign, they used the beautiful grey-haired Yasmina Rossi and that was really groundbreaking.
I actually think that Boots, in their current ‘Real Women’ campaign for ‘No 7’ is a step ahead of the game. They featured all types of real women and included ‘Ali’ who is a beautiful grey-haired woman. So I say ‘Bravo Boots’ for showing a balance of real women - you are talking my language!
Why did M&S spend a fortune on this current campaign by using ‘celebrities’? They could have picked real women too, representing all types, styles and shapes. I wonder, do any of these ‘celebs’ really wear M&S clothing? One more point - I think it is vital that grey is showcased at its best, ie with the right haircut, make-up and colour and style of clothing. If it’s not, we are wasting our time – we will never ‘sell’ it and overturn the myth (a myth which has come about for this very reason)"

Photographer: Stuart Hendry MUA: Iveta. Model: myself

Well said Denise, I totally agree with you! Except perhaps on the point of real women. I would like to see models, rather than people who are hired through street casting. Models who are diverse, but nevertheless models. This is what Models of Diversity is trying to convey and I totally support their mission.