IT is the first rule of shopping for wives and girlfriends.

If you don't want your husband or boyfriend to be a fashion disaster then you definitely don't let him loose when he is picking a new suit.

But have the women been muscling in too far? Nervous fellows had been complaining that the privacy of their fitting rooms was being invaded.

And the nation's favourite retailer, Marks & Spencer, was rumoured to be considering banning females from hanging around the gents' changing areas.

But the ladies need not worry.

M&S's flagship Hampshire store at Hedge End has poured cold water on any suggestion that the men's fitting rooms could be off limits to wives and girlfriends.

A company spokesman said: "It is totally untrue. We are not introducing a new policy and have no intention of doing so. A lot of people go shopping with their partners and we are still allowing women in the waiting areas near the men's changing rooms."

The famous chain has foyer areas outside the men's changing cubicles where the women can wait.

It has always been a tradition that the other half will hover nearby for when their loved one steps gingerly through the cubicle curtains neatly suited and booted for that special occasion.

At Hedge End's giant M&S store yesterday there was certainly no signs that the ladies had been barred from the waiting area near the men's fitting rooms.

The store's management was keeping its lips firmly buttoned on the subject and media inquires were being referred to head office.

Shoppers quizzed by the Daily Echo outside the store were adamant that it is a policy which they would not wear if there were any attempts to introduce it.

In fact some men we spoke to said they would never a buy a suit without getting that all important female nod of approval.

And the ladies made it clear that they wanted the final say on whether their menfolk cut the appropriate dash.