Drag queens cavorted on the catwalk and a host of Greenwich Village transvestites whooped among the roaring crowd that had packed the Edison Ballroom on Broadway, expecting the creations to rival anything they had seen on Sex and the City.

This was the launch of a new range of clothing for Marks & Spencer and the audience was waiting to see a 40-piece collection from Middle England’s long-time supplier of sensible underwear and sturdy blouses. They were not disappointed once the dancing queens had left the stage, for this latest range for “Your M&S” is the progeny of an unlikely partnership.

In May the retailer announced a collaboration with Patricia Field, the stylist from Sex and the City, whose recent work includes Barbie jewellery and Barack Obama T-shirts.

It is a canny move from the high street retailer: Field is adored for her idiosyncratic style by millions of women who were glued to the television series in which fashion was sometimes named as the fifth character, and may help to crack a notoriously difficult market. The creations from the unfettered mind that dressed Carrie Bradshaw and her free-spending friends are coming to the British high street on October 16, although Marks & Spencer is looking into the possibility of customers being able to preorder pieces online.

The clothes will be available in sizes 8-20, priced from £60-£120 in 200 stores in Britain.

In America the brand remains relatively unknown. Meredith Melling Burke, senior market editor for American Vogue, said: “I only know about Marks & Spencer through my British counterpart. I am not as familiar with what they have to offer fashionwise as I am with Zara and H&M.”

Key members of the US fashion press were notably absent among the cross-dressing crowd in New York on Saturday night.

To break into the US market, the firm is venturing into entirely uncharted retail territory by entering a partnership with an American TV shopping channel. Home Shopping Network will sell the clothes separately in the States, in some instances altering the fabrics of the designs to suit a different market.

As M&S buys back many of the stores that it sold off in America in the late 1990s, it hopes that this alliance and its link to Sex and the City will help to promote the profile of the world worldwide.

The splashy and exuberant signature style of Field’s clothing requires you to have a sense of humour. For would-be Carrie Bradshaws or Samanthas, there are black, peasant-style tops tucked into hip-skimming pencil skirts and worn with thick, woven-gold belts. Nautical pinstripe jackets teamed with gold lamé leggings or polka dot cocktail dresses were equally in the Sex and the City spirit.

Typical Carrie Bradshaw wear included a backless, black sequinned jumpsuit (which will be available up to a size 16) and a bubblegum-pink tiered dress. For the more sober-minded there was a conservative black trenchcoat.

Shoes, naturally, were terribly important. For those unable to afford a Manolo Blahnik habit, there were some fetching black patent gladiator heels or sexy red pointed satin stilettos. There was even a shoe-print shift dress.

Kate Bostock, executive director of clothing for M&S, is convinced that “the average British woman is so ready for this” and that it will generate a huge amount of interest.

For her part, Field said that she had been “really impressed by the cut, quality and attention to detail that you get at M&S”.

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