Michael Ball, founder and creative director of the denim line Rock & Republic, had a brainwave last winter: 1970s supermarkets. Not the most obvious design inspiration, perhaps, but for Ball the generic packaging that lined the aisles back then – those white boxes with simple black lettering saying “dog food”, “beer”, or “chips” – could be used once again, this time in a more fashionable form. “I thought it would be fun to do the same thing with clothes,” he said.

And so began Plain Wrap, a diffusion line (prices start at $35) alongside Ball's main autumn collection, consisting of a series of black and white pieces emblazoned with large labels that proclaim their identity: “jeans”, “sneakers”, “hoodie”.

Ball is not the only high fashion designer thinking low-key. Last month Marc Jacobs launched a “stimulus package” of “essential” styles as part of “Don't Miss the Marc” in his Marc by Marc Jacobs line (from ￡40 to ￡180); Rei Kawakubo's Black collection reprises past favourites; and Alexander Wang, Doo-Ri Chung, Jason Wu, Jasmin Shokrian and Camilla Staerk have all launched simplified secondary lines. Basics, in high fashion form, are back.