Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chlo?nd Chanel have all seen their profits rise recently. The fast-tracking of trends from catwalk to high street has been going on for a while now, so why shouldn’t the designers do it themselves?”For H&M, recruiting a name such as McCartney pays massive dividends. It has placed the store at the top of the must-visit list for fashion-conscious women, a position it shares with Topshop (who got there first), Zara and even Debenhams. Thody points to the “championing” relationship that Vogue enjoys with Topshop “This is not a passing trend.

I think it’s a result of what’s possible in production values at high volumes. Clothes are better-made now.”She picks out the denim jacket from the McCartney range as a case in point. “But even though they’re well made, clothes that last are not what anyone wants any more. Marks and Spencer should stop worrying about bullet-proofing their pieces and concentrate on the design.” M&S, whose fortunes have been more closely followed than possibly any other brand, does not employ Paris/New York/Milan designers.

The anonymous folk who churn out their shirtwaisters and slacks keep a low profile.The only real “name” now at M&S is George Davies. The founder of Nextmay not have catwalk kudos, but his business nous and eye for a trend goes down well withM&S customers. They may even gain the store a lasting fan base which the quick hit of a McCartney or Lagerfeld cannot achieve.As Thody points out, the quality of the H&M merchandise does not match the name on the label No one would expect a £59.99 jacket to last for ever. The Prada wool coat you saved months for will still be going strong, both in design and quality, in 2007; the Zara cotton coat with this-season ruffles and frogging is already starting to look tired.What no one talks about is where, and how, the clothes are produced That’s just not a fashionable topic of conversation. Meanwhile the style cycle spins exceedingly fast: on Friday more than 500 pieces from the H&M range were being offered on eBay – with few takers.