%20%20Linda%20Nylind.png)
MARY PORTAS OBE
Mary Portas is a businesswoman, broadcaster, author, and activist. At the age of 32, she became a board member at Harvey Nichols before founding her own retail consultancy, Portas, where she continues to work with the biggest names in global retail. Her BBC series Mary, Queen of Shops premiered in 2007, launching decades of television and radio presenting. In 2009, she partnered with Save the Children to reinvent the charity shop, and in 2011 she conducted a government review into the future of Britain's high streets.
As co-chair of the Better Business Act, she now heads a coalition of businesses calling for a change in the law to ensure UK companies align their interests with those of wider society and the environment.
In 2024, Mary was awarded an OBE for services to business, broadcasting, and charity. She is the author of five books: Windows: The Art of Retail Display, Shop Girl, Work Like a Woman, Rebuild, and her latest, I Shop, Therefore I Am: The '90s, Harvey Nicks and Me.
SPONSORED BY
SPONSORED BY
I Shop, Therefore I Am: The '90s, Harvey Nicks and Me
A Waterstones Best Entertainment Book of 2025
It's the 1990s: Britpop dominates the charts, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are on the cover of every glossy magazine, and British fashion is ripe for reinvention. Leading the charge is a twenty-something Mary Portas, brought in to revitalise Harvey Nichols — a department store then more closely associated with dowagers than daring designers.
With two babies at home, a sceptical, all-male senior management team to impress, and pressure to bring in new brands and customers, Mary steps into a world she doesn't fully understand. At first it shows — but that vulnerability quickly reveals itself as vision. By the millennium, the store is renowned for its outrageous, headline-grabbing window displays, patronised by style icon Diana, Princess of Wales, and Patsy and Edina of the iconic sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. No longer fusty old Harvey Nichols, but Harvey Nicks, daaarling.
Part memoir, part manifesto for business as a creative act, I Shop, Therefore I Am is the story of how she did it. In this no-holds-barred account, Mary takes readers behind the shop window, from behind-the-scenes fashion gossip to the early lessons that shaped her career. Told with her trademark wit, grit, and candour, it's a love letter to creativity, vision, and risk.
Privacy Policy, Cookies, Terms & Conditions
Registered Charity Number 1164814
© Isle of Wight Literary Festival 2024
Northwood House | Ward Avenue
Cowes | Isle of Wight | PO31 9AZ
