St Michael: A Brand History.

Firstly, welcome to These&Those Vintage's blog! On this blog we will mainly be talking about old vintage clothing labels, where and how to find good vintage clothes and also the care of vintage clothes. But I'm going to start with a brief history of a brand that as vintage fans you will all know: St Michael.

St Michael was the in house brand for M&S. Marks and Spencer was founded by Michael Marks in Leeds, England in 1884, Thomas Spencer joined the partnership in 1894 and the first shop was opened in 1904, and the Marks and Spencer brand was born.

The St Michael's brand was registered in 1928, and began by mainly producing lingerie and household clothing such as aprons.
It wasn't until after the Second World War when clothes rationing finished in 1949, that the brand really started to take speed producing a wider range of clothing and accessories.

The 1950's: The 1950's saw a new area for British clothing manufactures. There was a wider availability of fabrics, colours and patterns after the end of the Second World War and a wave of optimism swept over the country. This was reflected in the clothing that was produced, as with brands such as St Michaels already partly established it paved the way for them to take hold and make affordable fashion for everyone. They also moved more into accessories that had no real use, such a scarfs and handbags, items that during the war years where not a necessity. The clothing label was still a small part of the brand.

The 1960's: In the 1960's the first real youth movement happened. Young people where earning better money than their parents, and had a lot of disposable income, which they spent on the things that mattered most to them, music, motors and clothes. These where the boom years for St Michael, they where producing more clothing than ever and had expanded their range of clothing into mens and womens, and the ranges included clothing, accessories, lingerie, hand bags and shoes. They also started to copy the high end fashion and trends that where being set by Chelsea boutiques and where one of the first companies to mass produce the mini skirt and mini dress. Colours and fabrics become more wild than ever, these where the real boom years for St Micheals.

The 1970's: By the 70's the St Michael label was a house hold name and was still in high demand. It was now well known for producing high quality, inexpensive garments that where made to last and where also on trend with what was happening in the high end fashion stores. The 70's was when the mens range of St Michael came into it's own, big lapels, wide flares and jazzy ties where becoming the normal across most Marks and Spencers clothing departments. But although the clothes where still as fashionable and great quality as ever, the events that where happening outside of the St Micheal department where already shaping it's future, and so by the end of the 70's the brand was failing, as little money was being spent on clothing.

The 1980's: The 80's began the era of when women picked careers over being a housewife. These hard working women needed a working wardrobe that was smart, practical and inexpensive, so they turned to the shop their mothers had turned to for party dresses just years before: St Michael. The brand had now become the home of the pencil skirt and blouse, although still very on trend and fashionable, all of the flare and creativity from earlier years had vanished and the brand had now become practical and a little bit boring. For everyday outfits the brand served it's purpose but for the more fashionable dresses for going out people had moved on. 

The 1990's: The 1990's finally saw St Michaels become out of fashion and out of touch with the youth. It was regarded as old fashion and even a bit grannyish. Marks and Spencer as a brand was moving on to more fashion orientated clothing and it saw the St Michael side of the brand shrink to just a small part of it. And then finally in 2000 the St Michael brand was no more and it was indeed the end of an era for many. 

But that was not the end...

The St Michael brand is now well sought after with vintage fans and collectors alike. It has become so for the very reasons it thrived, its good quality, lasts a long time and you can put it in the washing machine without worry! Amazing! Not many of the high street stores today can do that!

Thank you for reading. Please not all images of labels are from my own collection of St Michael clothing.