Observations on menswear

"I've seen this scarf," said my boyfriend last autumn, "that I really want. It's from the Marks & Spencer Autograph range and it's stripy." My ears pricked up because, despite having a keen interest in clothes, he has always had a toddler's reluctance to wear scarves.

I went to investigate: it was a multicoloured scarf, with thin stripes, and it was made entirely of acrylic. It came in three colourways and although I didn't see the charm, I bought him one anyway; it cost £15. He wore it and wears it, every day. Then I noticed lots of men wearing the same scarf. By February (when another four colourways had been introduced and the item was on its third "print run" to keep up with demand) the scarf was around the neck of what seemed like every third man. And then something terrible happened. They sold out.

The Autograph multi-striped scarf, as it is officially known, has made Marks & Spencer £1.1m in sales over the winter that is now reaching its belated end. It has been around the necks of 73,000 men, and the brown-and-pink version that my boyfriend particularly coveted (good spot!) was the overall bestseller. I still don't see the appeal: acrylic is not known for its warmth, though it is soft and ridiculously easy to look after. And the pattern is hardly original, although it has more than a touch of Missoni "television interference" design to it. Yet this little scarf - the scarf that could - has proved the most popular men's accessory in recent years.

So successful was it that, although the winter colours sold out, it was granted an extended life in two "summery" colourways - a khaki or pink mix. You can still buy one, in certain stores, if you're lucky and you fancy being the 73,001st man to have one.

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