The Style Sale: Mary, Queen of Shops

In May 2011 the British prime minister, David Cameron, commissioned Mary Portas to perform an independent review of the Future of the British High-Street and it has recently been announced that 27 out of 28 of her recommendations have been accepted along with an agreement for £13m to be contributed.

Mary, Queen of Shops

Mary Portas is quite simply a retail expert. She started her career as a Saturday girl in John Lewis but has since worked with brands such as Topshop, Harrods, and Harvey Nichols (the success of the Harvey Nicks we know today has been attributed by some to Ms Portas).

She has written several successful books, has had numerous television series with the BBC and Channel 4 including 'Mary Queen of Charity Shops' in which she transformed the charity Save the Children's least successful shop into it's most profitable, and has recently launched her own clothing collection at House of Fraser.

Mary's report for the government included suggestions such as providing free parking areas, financial awards for the towns implementing the best rejuvenation schemes, encouraging large retailers to support local and independent shops, and to create disincentives to discourage landlords and banks from owning empty property on the high street.

Back to the aforementioned collection. In Mary's words, her collection for House of Fraser is a contemporary collection for 'grown-up modern women'. My boyfriend is always telling me that I dress like a middle-aged women so maybe I'm admitting that he's right here, but I would seriously wear this stuff!