article: Marks and Spencer's first clothes sales rise for four years has today been credited to its fashion supremo Belinda Earl, the former Saturday shopgirl parachuted in to turn round the business. The married mother-of-two ran  Debenhams, Jaeger and Aquascutum before she won the make-or-break style director role at M&S in September 2012. Today it appears that her hard work has paid off, with general merchandise sales, which is mainly women's clothes, up 0.7 per cent - the first rise after 14 consecutive quarters of losses. Mrs Earl is also the woman behind the retailer's brown suede skirt - out this month - which is now being branded the item that could save the business. Sales have also been boosted by celebrity underwear ranges, like those promoted by M&S models Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy. On trend: M&S fashion chief Belinda Earl, left, has been credited with helping bring in a number of sales hits, including the much lusted after suede skirt worn here by Alexa Chung, which is out this month . Increase: M&S stars Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy have also helped increase sales with their own ranges - with Miss Huntington-Whiteley's bras proving particularly successful in the last quarter . Miss Huntington-Whiteley's £25 padded bra and Mr Gandy's luxury underwear ranges helped push up clothing sales 0.7 per cent in the post-Christmas period. The £199 brown suede skirt, based on a 1970’s M&S classic, has been worn by A-listers including Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo and received worldwide coverage. Mrs Earl said: ‘When I first saw the skirt, I knew it would be a popular style for us though the support and excitement we have received has exceeded expectations'. Announcing the sales rise today, under pressure boss Marc Bolland said it proved 'we have been bang on trend'. Belinda Earl began her career aged 16 as a Saturday girl at Debenhams and after a brief stint as a Harrods trainee she moved back, and up the ranks, to become CEO before moving to Jaeger and then M&S . Belinda began her career aged 16 as a Saturday girl at Debenhams and after a brief stint as a Harrods trainee she moved back, and up the ranks, to become CEO. After running Aquascutum and Jaeger she was parachuted in as style director, in a bid to try to end the sales slump. Belinda spent her first two months talking to women shoppers, and they told her they want quality from M&S. She wrote for MailOnline last year: 'We believe that provenance and integrity are key. Best of British is made in 20 UK factories – we have got cloth from Yorkshire and Cheshire, outerwear from Manchester and footwear from Northamptonshire. We sell the range from our flagship .com site and in five UK stores. 'We are wholeheartedly committed to seeing these innovations through. Why? Because this is how the British fashion industry distinguishes itself. Because customers love it. Because it’s our heritage. And because it makes great business sense'. Today experts said the sales growth in the key womenswear sector, where M&S competes with Next and Primark, shows the retailer may have been turned round. The High Street giant's growth came as sales in its popular food halls also rose in the 13 weeks to March 28, mainly thanks to record Valentine's Day sales. It said customers had responded to changes in 'product quality and styling' and it sold more full-price items, especially from its luxury ranges. New York socialite and fashion blogger Olivia Palermo, who shot to fame on US reality show The City as an apprentice at fashion house Diane von Furstenberg, debuted the M&S suede skirt at New York Fashion Week . M&S also saw a 13 per cent rise in online sales - after a year of struggles for its new website, which cost millions to develop and will have helped increase clothing sales for the first time in 44 months. M&S clothes were put firmly in the headlines  by the arrival of a controversial  suede skirt, which has  divided opinion. Marks called it 'iconic' in its trading update. It doesn't go on sale until 10 April, but M&S said the huge amount of interest it has generated has driven extra traffic to its online store. It has been named item of the season and been worn by celebrities such as Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo. It is not cheap with a £199 price tag. The M&S share price rose 20p as the London Stock Exchange opened this morning - taking them above £5.50. Chief executive Marc Bolland said: 'We have made strong progress over the quarter. In Food we delivered another excellent performance, with sales growth ahead of the market. 'We continued to deliver on General Merchandise gross margin, and are pleased that we have achieved this whilst also improving General Merchandise sales. M&S.com has returned to growth, as planned, with further improvement in customer metrics.' Turnaround: For the last 14 financial quarters M&S' general merchandise sales - which is mainly women's clothing - had fallen - but today M&S announced they had returned to growth . On the up: Food sales were also up after M&S enjoyed a record Valentine's Day period, especially on it dine-in deals and flowers . Chief executive Bolland has been trying to turn around its clothes division for some time and has spent heavily on adverts, which have included the likes of model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and celebrity Myleene Klass. M&S' use of stars such as Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy appears to have paid off. Rosie for Autograph, the retailer's luxury range, sold nearly 400,000 items over the quarter, up 108 per cent on the year – and the bestseller was her £25 padded bra. Sales in boots, blouses and formal jackets were also big sellers, again in the Autograph ranges. In the food hall the M&S sold 830,000 £20 Valentine’s Day Dine-in deals, more of its healthy Count on Us ready meals and also had a record Mother's Day for flowers and plants. Experts had a mixed response to today's news. Bryan Roberts, retail analyst at Kantar, said: 'Womenswear needs to be consistently better across the whole range. The occasional screamer into the top corner doesn't negate smashing the ball over the bar for the last four years.' Previous poor sales were blamed on poor weather and problems with their new multi-million pound website and strong growth from rivals Primark and Next had caused them problems. It suffered a nightmare Black Friday and problems over the Christmas period after its new online distribution centre failed to cope with demand, resulting in no next day deliveries and longer waits for customers. Its progress in clothing was partly disrupted by more stock going into the Christmas sale as a result of the unseasonal conditions through the autumn and winter season. Analysts had expected the retailer's general merchandise unit to report a 1.2% fall in like-for-like sales. The firm also said that its online sales returned to growth of 13.8%, with its traffic numbers and customer satisfaction ratings continuing to improve since distribution problems impacted Christmas trading. The retailer said the specialist positioning of its food business continued to deliver results in a deflationary market, caused by ongoing supermarket price wars. The business said it introduced over 350 new products during the period.
highlights: Belinda Earl was parachuted in to turn round the retailer's sales slump .
  Today M&S said sales were up 0.7% - the first time in almost four years .
  Food sales also up after retailer enjoys record Valentine's Day sales .
  Glitches with its expensive website also fixed with sales up 13% .
  M&S shares up 20p this morning - first time above £5.50 since 2007 .
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