We started selling clothing in 1926, as the demand for quality, ready-to-wear clothing increased.

We established a central Design Department in 1936, and a Print Design Department in 1939. As early as 1938 we were buying printed fabric designs from studios in Paris.

The Design Department worked closely with Selectors whose role was to oversee the design and fit of garments, carry out comparative shopping exercises and keep abreast of the high street competition.

Designers drew inspiration from the fashion houses of London, Paris and New York, adapting them to suit M&S customers’ tastes and Utility requirements.

Hans Schneider joined M&S to upgrade merchandise following wartime restrictions. Under his direction our Design Department expanded rapidly – from just eight people in 1949, to over 70 by 1967.

Elisabeth Tomalin was appointed Head of the Print Design Department. She regularly travelled to European couture shows for inspiration.

Parisian knitwear designer Anny Blatt was hired as a consultant during the 1950s to advise on knitwear and jerseywear.

Hans Schneider was appointed Chairman of the Examining Board at London College of Fashion. He believed that new designers would have a more rewarding experience working at M&S, than in haute couture.

Designer Michael Donnellan was hired as a consultant. Known as Michael, he had headed the house of Lachasse in the 1940s, before running his own couture house in the 50s and 60s.

By 1967 each of our designers was also a technician and a fully qualified cutter. As well as our own design team, dress designs were also submitted by manufacturers.

One of our main suppliers, Corah, opened a Design and Development Centre, with 50 garment and fabric designers. By 1973 we encouraged all suppliers to set up their own design departments and laboratories.

In a staff magazine article we said ‘No matter how much he may feel like it, the M&S designer can never follow a whim and create something outrageous. He (and she) is part of a team, comprising selectors, fashion consultants and cloth technologists.’

Whilst studying at the Royal College of Art (RCA), David Emanuel took part in an M&S competition designing lingerie, and was awarded top prize. His designs including split-sided nightdresses were later adapted for sale in store.

Through supplier Peter Blond, students from RCA designed a range of clothing for M&S. The collaboration continued into 1984.

We employed Bruce Oldfield in 1988 as a ladieswear consultant. Oldfield was known for his work with Joanna Lumley, Joan Collins and Diana, Princess of Wales.

The newly established international office for Clothing and Homeware helped our design team to forecast fashion trends, using the knowledge of its internationally experienced designers. The team also established a network of design consultants including Paul Smith and Betty Jackson.

We employed 30 designers working on clothing and home, our top six suppliers employed 270 designers between them, working solely on designs for M&S. Designers visited international fabric trade shows, and the business subscribed to trend-prediction organisations like Trend Union in Paris.

By 1996, a number of well-known designers were working on products for us, often through our suppliers, including Ghost, Ally Capellino and Marion Foale.

Designer Julien Macdonald began advising on knitwear – Macdonald was known for his innovative use of knitwear and worked with our supplier Coats Viyella on innovative knitwear techniques.

We announced a collaboration with designers including Julien MacDonald, Betty Jackson and Katherine Hamnett, this became the first Autograph collection, launched in 2000.

Students from RCA were invited to submit designs for our Limited Collection range. Ten designs were chosen, with one student invited to produce a full collection for Spring 2011. M&S has collaborated with student designers at RCA since at least the 1980s.

Following collaborations with Patricia Field in 2008 and Zandra Rhodes in 2009, the 2010s saw us working with designers including Baartmans & Siegel, Kestin Hare and Alexa Chung.

The menswear design team took inspiration from the M&S Archive to create the Originals collection – the range offered carefully manufactured, responsible menswear with a focus on considered design and our unique heritage.

We announced a nationwide search for our next designer with the launch of a competitive ITV series, M&S: Dress The Nation. The series documented the search process from start to finish: 10 candidates competed to secure a highly coveted in-house design role.

Today M&S works with new technologies in predicting bestsellers and understanding trends.

Designers can now create a digital sample garment, enabling them to see their prints and designs to scale and eliminating the need for physical garment samples.