The Gucci effect. This is perhaps the best way to describe the influence that one Italian label is having on our fashion habits right now. Even those who have never heard of Gucci will have noticed that high-street stores are full of embroidered satin baseball jackets, toile-patterned trousers and pussy-bow blouses, not to mention clashing colours, Japanese prints and swaths of chiffon.

In the fast-moving world of fashion, new collections – and their copies – appear every three months, and while the elegant tweeds of Chanel and stark coolness of Saint Laurent remain for the fashion elite, the rest of the world seems to be scrambling for Gucci.

The question, of course, is why?

Gucci is not, after all, a new brand. It was founded in 1921 by Guccio Gucci, a one-time porter at The Savoy Hotel in London. Inspired by the expensive luggage that he was tasked with handling, he returned to his native Florence and established a high-end luggage and riding-wear company. Known for its exceptional quality, the company quickly gained a following among Europe’s well heeled, with Princess Grace of Monaco emerging as a keen supporter. Clothing was added in 1981 with Gucci’s first-ever runway show.

By the 1990s, however, Gucci had fallen on hard times, the result of family infighting and the murder of Maurizio Gucci, the head of the company. The ensuing chaos saw sales plummet.

A turning point for the company came with the appointment of Tom Ford as creative director in 1994, a man known for his high-octane approach, and collections that oozed sex appeal and glamour. Celebrities fought over his pieces, and Gucci hit headlines once more. Deliberately provocative advertising campaigns kept the spotlight on the brand, and sales boomed. But such success invariably has a shelf life, and Ford left the company in 2004 after 10 wildly exciting years.

Enter Frida Giannini, who was named Ford’s successor as the head of Gucci menswear. His polar opposite, she favoured pared-down chic over blatant sexuality, reinventing earlier pieces with an updated twist. Opting for a sleeker, more subtle silhouette, Giannini looked to different historical periods for inspiration. While this approach was at first well received, after a few years it proved too unfocused for customers, who, confused by the constant jumping from era to era – art deco one season and 1960s the next – began to turn their backs on the brand. In late 2014, against a backdrop of rapidly falling sales, Giannini and company chief executive Patrizio di Marco (later also her husband) were both unceremoniously fired.

Despite vowing to remain in her role until after the autumn/winter 2015 menswear show in February 2015, in January she unexpectedly walked out, catching the house off guard. The search for her replacement had already begun, with figures such as Hedi Slimane, Riccardo Tisci and even Ford seemingly in the running, but no one had been formally named, and Giannini’s rapid exit left the company without a head. With just days to go before the start of the all-important men’s fashion season, newly appointed chief executive Marco Bizzarri stepped in and named the relatively unknown Alessandro Michele as Gucci’s creative director.

Like Giannini before him, Michele was promoted from within the company. But despite being well known within Gucci, having worked there since 2002 as head of accessories under both Ford and Giannini, he was virtually unheard of outside of it. Despite industry shock that such responsibility could be handed to an untested designer, Bizzarri was adamant that he had found the right person for the role, declaring that Michele was chosen "based upon the contemporary vision he has articulated for the brand that he will now bring to life". As he later claimed to Vogue: "Fashion is about creating emotion – it’s not necessarily rational."

white prom dresses | black prom dresses