Anatomy of a high-street hit: the skirt that saved M&S

The Skirt That Saved Marks and Spencer finally arrived in store on Friday. A Seventies-style brown suede skirt from the store's Autograph collection, it costs £199 and has already been called the "skirt of the season" for its role in the brand's small but significant 0.7 per cent recent rise in sales. It has been the subject of 90 pieces of rave editorial and featured in almost every monthly magazine.

On the one hand, such a claim is preposterous. Of course it didn't contribute to sales growth. It wasn't even on sale during that time period. Far more likely, the increase should be credited to the store's recently improved e-commerce site - which now actually works. On the other hand, the media hullabaloo that has accompanied the skirt's journey to the shop floor has undoubtedly precipitated a renewed public interest that must have had Marc Bolland, chief executive since 2010, weeping with relief: this quarterly rise in revenues has stemmed a pitiful four-year decline.

Everyone loves a high-street hit story: even better when that hit belongs to M&S, purveyor of comfortable pants and single-portion puddings to Britons since 1884. As such, the British have a peculiarly invested relationship with the shop: one of our national pastimes is to discuss what it's getting wrong, and it is felt to be a patriotic duty to cheer its successes. So, let's anatomise the makings of this "high-street hit".

Studied retrospectively, the skirt's journey to star status appears as carefully planned and executed as a military tattoo - although, according to Belinda Earl, the company's style director, its ascent was less managed than that. "When I first saw it, I knew it would be popular," she says. "Although the support we received exceeded all expectations."

Unveiled at the store's press day in November, the skirt was enthusiastically received by fashion editors, a number of whom were then seen wearing it on the AW15 front rows. "It became the most popular and requested sample at any M&S press event," says Earl.

The "halo effect" fully took hold, however, when the skirt was seen on It girls Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo, who lent it peerless fashion credibility and elan. Neither were paid for their endorsement (according to a spokesperson, they "simply liked it") but, considering the two actress-model-designer-personalities have a combined total of 3.6m Instagram followers, they possibly should have been. In particular, the association between the venerable British brand and Chung, the modern embodiment of eccentric English elegance, was essential in transforming public opinion in M&S's favour.

The suede skirt's success seems assured, then. But it's not certain yet. After all, it only went on sale on Friday and, despite all the hype, the shop does still need to persuade women to part with £199 for a garment that won't work for most office wardrobes and definitely won't sit comfortably in a heatwave.

Even worse than not selling, what if it does actually sell out? In September 2013, M&S saw a similar media hysteria surround the launch of a "pink coat" only to flail when everyone did in fact try to buy it. Overwhelming demand can cause its own problems (just ask the fashion label Shrimps, another beneficiary of the Alexa effect, which couldn't meet demand for the faux-fur "Baby Puss" leopard jacket she wore in February, and which is still sold-out three months later).

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Has the suede skirt saved M&S? It has definitely got everyone talking about the store with more enthusiasm than for aeons. And it's almost certainly propelled more women through its doors.

But arguably the skirt that will really save Marks and Spencer is another one altogether. It's neither suede, nor has it been seen on any major celebrities. Instead, it's a faux suede replica of the Autograph version that snuck in-store a couple of weeks ago as part of the store's Limited Edition range. It costs a mere £39.50 and in its first two weeks sold more than 2,500 units. Only the most discerning eye can tell between them. And I promise I won't tell.

[email protected], Twitter: @JEllison

Photograph: Gilbert Carrasquillo

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