Mary Portas collection at House of Fraser
chitarivera
Posts: 36,905 Forum Member
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Anyone yet had a look at her fashion range which has just been launched?
http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Mary+Portas/MaryPortas,default,pg.html
I remember her starting a campaign on her website ages ago asking for 'real' and 'grown up' women to contact her with suggestions so that her collection could give 'real' and 'grown up' women what they wanted but couldn't get currently on the High Street.
Then she went quiet because David Cameron had employed her as an advisor or something.
Well, the Mary Portas range is here.
And is it my imagination or is every item on there designed to suit Mary's own body shape?
So much for giving 'real' and 'grown up' women a choice.
The trousers are mostly really skinny drainpipes.
How many can get away with that style?
And even if they can, there are loads of them available on the High Street.
So what's so different about Mary's new collection, then?
I can't see anything different.
And I'm rather disappointed.
I really thought Mary would at least give us some trousers that fit.
These ridiculous low slung hipster style ones with skinny legs have been monopolising the high street for far too long now.
To be fair, she has a pair of ankle boots on there that I like but at £110 I won't be in a hurry to get them.
There's a recession on, Mary.
Some of us are looking for lower prices than that.
Am I alone in my thoughts?
http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Mary+Portas/MaryPortas,default,pg.html
I remember her starting a campaign on her website ages ago asking for 'real' and 'grown up' women to contact her with suggestions so that her collection could give 'real' and 'grown up' women what they wanted but couldn't get currently on the High Street.
Then she went quiet because David Cameron had employed her as an advisor or something.
Well, the Mary Portas range is here.
And is it my imagination or is every item on there designed to suit Mary's own body shape?
So much for giving 'real' and 'grown up' women a choice.
The trousers are mostly really skinny drainpipes.
How many can get away with that style?
And even if they can, there are loads of them available on the High Street.
So what's so different about Mary's new collection, then?
I can't see anything different.
And I'm rather disappointed.
I really thought Mary would at least give us some trousers that fit.
These ridiculous low slung hipster style ones with skinny legs have been monopolising the high street for far too long now.
To be fair, she has a pair of ankle boots on there that I like but at £110 I won't be in a hurry to get them.
There's a recession on, Mary.
Some of us are looking for lower prices than that.
Am I alone in my thoughts?
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Comments
Oh i would love someone to put a collection together for woman who:
Have kids
Are on their feet all day
Walk to work
Live in a rural area
Are a pear shape and not stick thin and 6ft tall
Is on a BUDGET!!!!!!!!!!
Then i would imagine they would make a small fortune.
Anyone who did that would be fantastic. Especially if they accept not all short people are a size 8. sometimes you get short fat people who need clothes.
However then when i looked online at the range of products i have to say i agree with all of you, she seems to have based all the clothes on herself & not "real women".
I thought that woman on the show did right sending her a mannequin of her actual body, but Mary didn't seem too impressed with it... Would have been better if she had done a range based on that.
As skinny drainpipe trousers don't suit everyone!
As for the prices :eek: I thought it was going to be "affordable" fashion!!! i wouldn't call £100+ for a blouse in any way affordable unless you are a very high earner!
I'm only in my 20s so not in her targeted market.. but i do think she's completely missed that market herself.. will be interested to see how long it lasts.....
My mum is in that age range & there is no way she would pay the prices!
Yes she did completely ignore her testers.
And she fails to see the irony in the situation - she trumpets that real women over 40 are ignored by the High Street and then ignores real women over 40.
Her collection does NOT give real women any more choice.
How many of her testers could be comfy in the trousers in her new collection?
Pear shaped ladies wouldn't get their thighs in them.
Apple shaped ladies would get their thighs in them but wouldnt be able to fasten the zips.
And I'm not talking about obese ladies, either. I'm talking about REAL women.
As I said in my OP - before this show aired, I am really disappointed in her because I believed this collection really would cater for real women.
As I said, she's just produced a collection for her own body shape.
She said she wouldnt wear any of them in a million years unless she was going to a fancy dress party or going for a job as a circus clown AND they were ridiculously overpriced!
And my mum is supposedly the target market! Nice going, Mary! :rolleyes:
She might take notice?
Worth a try?
I doubt it. She'd probably think we are all ruffians, with no fashion sense!!! How did you get her email address?
She's got a website and there a several email addresses on there for various subjects. One is about the High Street project.
I figured it was worth a try.
Style wise I would wear it, but I'm 35 so not quite in her target market.
I was quite looking forward to being able to relax and wear comfy clothes with elasticated waistbands when I get older and not worry about what I look like so much. By the time I get to that age it won't be acceptable.
Last week, one of her volunteers sent her a life size dummy of her own body shape so that Mary could take that into account when designing her clothing range.
Mary ignored it.
Now that lady is trying on the clothes Mary has designed, and is finding nothing suitable and when she voices her opinion, Mary is ignoring her comments and the lady is being made to feel like she is just being awkward.
Maybe if Mary had taken into account the body dummy the lady sent and had listened to her requests then just maybe the lady might have actually liked something.
But she was shouted down.
Look, Mary, if you just wanted women with your body shape and who will just say yes to everything you say, then what was the point of asking women to volunteer for this project?
I have always enjoyed Mary's shows, and have always found her to talk sense.
But since this clothing range came out and this tv series was broadcast I have found myself going off her.
She just seems to now be of the opinion that she is right and everyone else is wrong.
I'm thinking that Gok would be a better person to design real clothes for real women.
He has, it was launched in Sainburys last week.
She seems to just want to tell us what we should like.
Sorry, Mary. It doesn't work like that.
If you give us what we want we will buy.
But we won't buy just because it has your name on the label.
oooh, he has?
I'll go and take a peek.
Thanks.
Why would anyone want to emulate Mary Portas' style - she always looks like a fashion victim.
There's loads similar on the net for a fraction of the price.
One of the women who wrote to her came in to test the collection and didn't like a single item. Instead of taking her criticisms on board Mary told her that the tester was making her upset, and she had spent a long time on that collection - the implication being that the woman had no right to dislike them.
Actually she called it "terrifying" and began crying when she realised she was so out of her depth and had no idea how to cater for that body type!
We definitely need clothes made for all sizes and shapes of women but this collection is not the answer.
When the owner describes this as "the best dress in the collection" you know there's a problem:
http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/on/demandware.static/Sites-Site/Sites-hof-Library/default/00/BRANDS/M/MaryPortas/7EasyPieces/7-easy-pieces-01_01.jpg
Yep, she's definitely been rumbled.
I emailed her when the collection came out - back in August, was it?
Still no acknowledgement.
I thought the way she spoke to the volunteer lady who didn't like anything told us lots about the real Mary.
Try Oxfam.
The rest of the range however, I can't really see any woman over 50 other than Mary herself and Anne Robinson wearing. My Mum and Auntie are both professional women who always look well dressed and styled - and I can't see them wearing a single thing in that collection. There's too much black, and I read that black is aging and drains the colour of your skin. Fine if you're a teenage goth filled with angst, but softer, warmer colours are supposed to be less harsh on the older complexion, and I guess that is why you don't see many ladies walking around in black leather skirts and trousers, wearing black eyeliner! I'm not saying that anybody over 50 should have to wear cardigans, pearls and elasticated waist trousers, but I don't see Mary's range becoming the new must-have clothing collection either. There's a middle ground between flowery blouses and black leather skinny trousers, and most of the women I know seem to have found it.
I also think that most of the clothes are very overpriced, for what they are. If the range is for 'real women' then it should reflect a real woman's budget, and I don't think there are many people who could / would buy multiple items from Mary's range.
I admire Mary's 'take no bulls*t' attitude, but I think that she might have misread her target audience.