Say what you like about celebrity fashion ranges but there’s one thing you can’t fault about them – they really get people excited, not only about buying fashion, but also about queuing for hours in the cold to buy it.

I had trouble negotiating my way down Regent Street, London, this afternoon on my way back from buying the silver Cos dress I posted about last week. The queues for the Idris Elba collection launch spread down and across the street outside Superdry’s flagship store. OK, lots of people in the queue were there as much to catch a glimpse of Mr E as much as to buy jackets and sweats (and who wouldn’t queue in the cold to see one of the coolest actors on the planet and shout “I love you Idris?!”)

But aside from the hullabaloo surrounding celebrity appearances, just like Topshop’s Beyoncé announcement yesterday, this is about selling a serious amount of product at a time when the retail environment is, to say the least, challenging.

And it’s good product too. Between them, Idris, Superdry’s co-founders James Holder and Julian Dunkerton, and the brand’s design team have created a collection of strong standalone pieces, primarily in a palette of blacks, greys and other darks.

They’re subtler and less logo-driven than the standard Superdry offer, although logos do rear their head on a number of tops. I can cope with the giant IE embossed across the chest of a sweat or the cracked finish logo print on a chest pocket – which is saying something for a logo-hating person like me. I’m not so sure about the massive white IE on a number of other tops, but let’s not be picky about a collection that gets a 9 out of 10 in most other areas.

Idris Elba for Superdry by Rankin