Marks & Spencer has poached Topshop fashion director Maddy Evans as it grapples to revive its clothing sales.

Evans is expected to join M&S in November, The Mail on Sunday reported. She will be tasked with helping to boost the retailer’s fashion credentials in the eyes of younger shoppers.

Details of her appointment emerged just days after M&S parted ways with Jill McDonald, managing director of its clothing and home division, after less than two years.

M&S boss Steve Rowe, who has assumed responsibility for the troubled non-food arm following McDonald’s departure, admitted at the retailer’s AGM last Tuesday that it had endured a “troubled year” in fashion and general merchandise.

He pointed to a jeans promotion in February as one example, when buyers failed to buy enough stock.

Rowe said M&S had “the worst availability in casual clothes I have ever seen in my life”.

Evans will not replace McDonald directly, but she is expected to work closely with M&S women and childrenswear boss Jill Stanton.

Evans served as head of buying at Topshop between 2009 and 2012, before being promoted to buying director. She became fashion director in May 2015.

Her appointment forms part of M&S’ plans to better appeal to young families across the UK and create more ‘million pound’ product lines.

Rowe told M&S shareholders at the AGM last week that the business needed to focus on “big lines that we are famous for”.

He insisted that the market would “see a difference when we get to the autumn”.

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