It all started in 2005 with a column in the Telegraph, 6 years on and Mary 'Queen of Shops' Portas is set to launch her own fashion range for the over 40s.
The Government Adviser became famous after her appearances throughout the country as she tried to help independant retailers on the failing British High Street reverse their fortunes on her television show 'Queen of Shops', which was then followed up by her mystery shop programme, in which she donned wigs and other such disguises to exposed the worst of the worst.
She this week puts her money where her mouth is and, in colloboration with House of Frasier, is launching her own concession within the Oxford Circus store. The collection has been worked on for over a year and is Portas' own way of addressing what she feels to be a lack of decent clothes for the over 40's, saying that 'the high street has become a ghetto for the very young and impossibly skinny, once women hit 40 they become invisible, particularly in the fashion business'
The creation of the shop has been documented by Channel 4 and will be aired as a three part series in October.
That's good, as we'll see the reasoning behind her thoughts that skin tight leather trousers are acceptable for a woman over 40.
