Can Marks & Spencer become the high street’s sweetheart once again? That the British retailer is in financial trouble, with 100 stores to close in the next four years, is well-documented, as are claims that it has forgotten who its target customer is. But judging by its autumn/winter 2018 womenswear presentation in London on Tuesday, the potential is there: next season is all about quality, consistency and rediscovering its core customer.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest M&S Collection, trench, £99; jumper, £29.50, trousers, £35. Photograph: Marks & Spencer

“This is heartland M&S,” said the company’s style director, Belinda Earl, introducing the new foundation edit she described as “the mainstays of any woman’s working wardrobe”. It includes a city coat, a black blazer, a pair of black trousers and a striped Breton top. The focus at M&S this season is to provide beautifully executed staples that women can wear day to night, throughout the year, every year; things that, says Earl, “we’re known for and want to be known for even more to build a broader customer base”.

There remain seasonal trend items with which to mix and match, such as statement T-shirts, metallic pleated skirts and – something the design team are predicting will be a hit – a buckled kilt that comes in traditional tartan as well as black. There are also several contenders for the “new pink coat”, including a long Prince of Wales check coat, £99; a long shearling-style coat, £99; and (the style that everyone will want) a faux-fur leopard-print teddy-bear coat, £79.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Per Una, Leopard print coat, £79. Photograph: Marks & Spencer

However, the emphasis on understanding what M&S has historically been really good at – knitwear, outerwear and underwear – is clear and will be what they are hoping bring back to the masses. Trousers come in multiple cuts and colourways, as does knitwear, while tailoring is available in classic heritage patterns and materials. At the presentation, the design team showcased its clothes alongside underwear to show it has approached this collection with a more holistic idea of how women dress – ie choosing what bra and knickers to wear depending on what we want to put on top. Crucially, though, these mainstays won’t be one-season wonders, but will reappear next season and the one after that.

“It’s something that we’re very conscious of doing,” said Earl. “When you do find a piece, you tend to want more and we’re looking to build on that. It’s a big reminder to us and the customer that those are the pieces that should be the focus of everyone’s wardrobe.”

“We know our customers value the fact that we can give them the foundations of their wardrobe, but do it in a way that offers really great quality at a really great price,” says the clothing, home and beauty managing director, Jill Macdonald. “[We’re able to] democratise fashion to a broad demographic.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest M&S Collection jumper, £39.50, trousers, £39.50, shoes, £29.50. Photograph: Marks & Spencer

The price points for this collection are reasonable for the quality – whether that helps reverse M&S’s beleaguered recent history remains to be seen. Last month, it announced a “radical” plan to close one in three of its homeware and clothing branches, with thousands of job losses. Sacha Berendji, the company’s retail, operations and property director, described the move as “vital for the future of M&S”, but the news that pre-tax profits in the year to 31 March had slumped 62% to £67m and the departure shortly afterwards of the chief financial officer, Helen Weir, and marketing chief, Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, added to its woes.

Earl remains positive. For womenswear, she says, “having a tighter focus does make things clearer”. Meanwhile, she and her team remain intent “on making sure that we give our customers true choice within each of the destination departments and that we are reflecting the trends in ways that fit and flatter”.