Marks & Spencer has been having a fashion moment, but this might be one of its most unexpected yet.
The British retailer has teamed up with London streetwear label Aries for a limited-edition 26-piece collection that digs into the M&S archive and brings one of its most recognisable symbols back into the spotlight: the St Michael label.
If you’ve ever rummaged through vintage M&S in a charity shop or scrolled through resale sites, you have probably seen it. The little St Michael label that once sat inside countless M&S garments has become something of a vintage fashion calling card.
Now, Aries is giving it a new life. The collaboration spans womenswear and menswear, with the streetwear label looking through M&S’s archives for the details, references and design codes that made the retailer such an important part of British fashion.
The result is not simply vintage M&S with an Aries logo slapped on it.
Instead, the collection finds a surprisingly good middle ground between the two brands. Sharp tailoring, striped shirts and ties bring the traditional M&S side of things, while relaxed tracksuits, hoodies and graphic sweatshirts inject Aries’ distinctly London attitude. There is also plenty for the softer wardrobe, including preppy knitwear, slip dresses and cardigans.
Basically, the sensible British wardrobe got invited to a streetwear party. And somehow, it works. Among the standout pieces are drawstring-waist pinstripe trousers priced at £50, a flippy black silk dress at £120 and a graphic hoodie that gives the collection its more rebellious edge.
For Aries, the appeal was not about turning M&S into a streetwear brand. It was about taking the retailer’s existing strengths — quality, longevity and recognisable design and interpreting them through a very different creative lens.
That makes the return of the St Michael label particularly fitting.
Once an everyday detail hidden inside M&S clothing, it has become part of the visual language of vintage British fashion. Bringing it back through a collaboration with one of London’s cult streetwear names gives that piece of retail history a completely different audience.
M&S may still be associated with dependable wardrobe staples, but this collection proves that heritage does not have to mean predictable.
The M&S x Aries 26-piece collection is available now through the M&S website and select stores.
