M&S lingerie chief Janie Schaffer leaves after three months

Janie Schaffer helped launch the Knickerbox chain in the 1980s

Marks and Spencer's director of lingerie and beauty Janie Schaffer has left the retailer after three months.

Ms Schaffer, who joined from lingerie chain Victoria's Secret, where she was chief creative officer, is thought to have departed last week.

She was one of several people brought in to help revive flagging clothes sales at M&S, which still has an 11% share of UK womenswear.

M&S confirmed that Ms Schaffer had left, but would not comment further.

She earned the nickname "The Knicker Queen" after co-launching the lingerie chain Knickerbox in 1986.

Last week, M&S reported that sales in its general merchandise division, which includes clothing, fell 3.8% in the first three months of 2013, the seventh quarter in a row they have fallen.

Ms Schaffer's appointment was announced in November after news that Frances Russell was being promoted to the position of director of womenswear.

At the time, M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said the two women combined "the best of M&S experience with exciting, new, external talent. Their impact will start to come through when we launch our autumn/winter collections in July next year."

Last year, the retailer's clothing head, Kate Bostock, left to join Asos.