Live webchat with Mary Portas on Monday 10 May (1-2pm). PLUS, if you're over 40, a chance to take part in her next C4 series

[HelenMumsnet]

Retail guru and television presenter Mary Portas will be joining us for a live webchat on Monday 10 May from 1-2pm to discuss shopping, style and her brand new fashion crusade for women over 40.

As a mother of two, Mary juggles a television career and writing a weekly shop review column in the Telegraph with running Yellowdoor, her successful retail-branding and communications agency.

Mary's about to start filming a new Channel 4 TV series that will follow her quest to fill the gap in the fashion market for fabulous, forty-plus women.

She particularly wants to know:

• Do you think your fashion needs are served by high-street retailers?
  
  
• When you shop for fashion, is it as fun and easy an experience as it was when you were younger or do you find it a trial?
  
  
• Is there a brand on the high street that gives you what you want?
  
  
• What are the brands that are failing you?
  
  
• Would you rather see a picture of a woman your own age marketing the brands you buy or are you happy to see youthful, perfect faces?
  
  Mary knows shops and shopping better than anyone and she'll be ready to answer all of your shopping quandaries, from where to find the best service to where to shop for the best one-offs.
  
  Television cameras will be following Mary as she takes part in the live webchat. Your comments may be used in the television show but we won't identify you.
  
  As part of the television series, Mary is also looking for opinionated women who will be part of her focus group, advising her on anything from where to buy the best-fitting dress to road-testing whole fashion collections.
  
  This will involve a number of days filming in London over the next six months and will cover travel expenses for these days.
  
  If you're interested in being involved please email [email protected] with your name, your MN nickname, your contact details and why you think you should be part of the show.
  
  Thanks, MNHQ

[MaryPortas]

To Fimbo, this real women debate, and real age and body size is something I feel strongly about and yet I don't know the answer yet, I think we've become so used to seeing young thin models, it might be too much of a shock to just stop abruptly. I will be looking at models and how we market the shop so women of this age feel it's for them.

[CMOTdibbler]

Boffin - I have some Dr Martens high heels - they are comfy, have a solid sole that doesn't slip and is padded, yet have a stonking heel and are drop dead sexy. So it can be done - even on a budget.

[MaryPortas]

SuSylvester (and others): What do you really want to wear and who are your style icons - who do you look at and think fantastic?

[squeaver]

Another point on sizing/body shapes. Just because you're a particular size, it doesn't mean that you fit a stereo-typed shape.

For example, I am an 8 - 10 but, as it happens, I have big calves so I can't wear skinny jeans - I just can't get them on (even the stretch ones). Equally, I know many people who think they are "fat" and are a size 14 or 16 but have the most FANTASTIC LEGS. They should be wearing skirts that show them off but can't find any that don't make them look cheap.

We all love Duo here - they have revolutionised boot buying for us cankled ones. We need more brands like this.

[MaryPortas]

Sorry my turn to ask questions of you: Do you find the high street shopping experience boring?

[Penthesileia]

Mary, thank you for answering my question and confirming my suspicions!

If I may ask a follow-up question: what can we do to improve the high street's commitment to fair-trading, ethical trading, etc?

Yes, I would be interested in a well-run, well-stocked second-hand section. I think the success of ebay (and charity shops, of course) suggests that people are very comfortable with the idea.

[DavidHameron]

Oooh Mary you're here!

Now. About my time question. None of us have any: how will you solve that one?

I saw that John Lewis show and they seemed to be trying a 'boutique' approach in their buying policy. I've yet to shop there for clothes but the website looks good.

But the alternative to online, is to make it somewhere women REALLY want to go and spend time there surely? I wouldn't mind if it felt like a treat. The problem now is that shopping is so alienating: 12 year olds sizing you up and laughing behind their hands, 8 million things into the changing rooms all of which look awful.

I would like it to be like a hairdressers where you can get a manicure a coffee and a head massage too, where no-one has forgotten that YOU are the most important paying customer, not the 15 yo size 8s.

[champagnesupernova]

Hi Mary
Yes boring and stressful
So much of it is the SAME.
(and yes I know how it works, I remember Meryl Streep's "cerulean blue" speech in Devil Wears Prada)
That you run the risk of wearing the same dress as someone to a wedding or something if you go high st
(three women in the same Monsoon dress at one wedding I was at a couple of years ago, and it was in my wardrobe at home!)

[DavidHameron]

Boring, no; more horrifying these days. There nothing in between teenage carcrash and old lady. And it is ALIENATING...

[KristinaM]

I like the styles of lots of the women featured on The Sartorialist ( but i know i will get scoffed at for this)

I am 48 and standard 5'5'', size 10 and am HORRIFIED at what most high street retailers think a woman of my age should be wearing eg Portfolio

My best high street shop is Zara, although many of their dresses are not cut for women with boobs

[mistressploppy]

Sometimes the high street is very boring indeed. Minimum effort required in order to get your money. They don't try hard enough! Expectations are low though, so it's not surprising

[brimfull]

yes high street is dull

but we are spolied in this country-it could be a lot worse. Thinking of my shopping trips in canada.

[MaryPortas]

Squeaver: How about I create a shop that's about fit, flatter fashion and quality, and if that inspires the 30 plus then brilliant - would that work for you or would you still think that was ghettoised? It would have the over 40's at the core, but might appeal to others.

[dawntigga]

Style icons:

You - natch
Kristin Scott Thomas - sometimes!
Michelle Obama - great taste that woman has
Audrey Hepburn - when I grow up I'd like to be her please!
Katherine Hepburn - if I can't be Audrey then...
Sandra Bullock - sometimes
Demi Moore - sometimes
Joanna Lumley - sometimes

And god yes. I remember going shopping for clothes as a real look forward to event and now it's boring. Ah the days of Cloud 9 in Manchester.

GodI'mOldTiggaxx

[squeaver]

Re style icons. There's a problem here, because they (mainstream over 40 celebrities) are all too skinny and have had too much botox
e.g. SATC women, Julia Roberts etc

I admire Emma Thompson's dress sense, but wouldn't copy it.

Julianne Moore always looks good. Also Cate Blanchett

I totally agree with what Noddy said earlier about that Loose Women mutton-dressed-as, over accessorised look.

[DavidHameron]

Susylvester's style icon is Cruella DeVille I fear....

I have no style icons - perhaps that is the problem: I think lots of young middle aged women have no idea who they are any more.

[MmeLindt]

I live in Switzerland (previously in Germany) and have found that there is a much of a muchness in the British High Street.

If you were to plunk me down in the middle of a random High Street, I can guarantee I would find: M&S, Next, Primark, Evans, Clarks, Debenhams, Monsoon...

Is that our fault because we stopped buying from small boutique shops?

It is pretty boring tbh.

[squeaver]

Yes I think that could work. Just don't be overt about the age thing.

And have nice changing rooms. And sofas.

[MaryPortas]

champagne - what a nightmare - sadly this is going to happen when you have massive chains that dominate the high street. Can't think of anything worse. Only advice - don't go for the obvious, stick with the classics and update with good accessories.

[FlyMeToDunoon]

I find that although I am a 10/12 because of having 3 children and because of my age I have a tummy which is like a blob. However control panel swimsuits are never available in a 10.
Decent swimwear for over 40s seems to be hard to find.
Shopping is a trial generally. When you have trawled all of the high street and can't find anything it is a bore.

[KristinaM]

I don't find it boring - i find it depressing

So many shops i browse in but just don't buy

as others have said, very little between 20 soemthing shops like top shop, river island, dorothy p ( although ok for the odd sweater or accessories)and frumpsville ( most of M&S etc)

[chimchar]

high st shopping is not boring...its really hard work...eg..each item is placed around the stores ion lots of different sections...so you know you want a pair of say black trousers, but you have to search through 8 different trousers section of the shop to find them in various styles/fits etc..

i went in to the brand new "hollisters" shop in the new st davids 2 shopping centre in cardiff...it was amazing! the lighting was bloody awful, but the whole experience was really new and different....i didn't buy anything though...too young and thin for me, but the feel of the shop was exciting...

[Birdly]

Hi Mary

Yes, high street shopping is boring. Not only is it boring, it's often fraught with indifferent service and goods that are poor quality. All the shop windows look the same.

Another crucial point is where you live. Big cities tend to have more non-high street stuff in their high streets, if you see what I mean, but smaller cities and towns are depressingly samey in what's on offer.

Yes, we can shop online, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, sizing varies so much that in my case I know I'll just end up legging it backwards and forwards to the Post Office with parcels to return. Which, of course, defeats the object!

[DavidHameron]

Re: the question of own age marketing, there was an interesting campaign by someone or other (was it comptoir des cottonieres) which had mother and daughter models. I'm not sure I liked the message (that the brand is for everyone) nor the smugly beautiful genetics, but it WAS nice to see wonderful looking women in their 40s. All skinny as rakes though but I still dunno whether people really want to see fatties: they want to imagine themselves slimmer, no?

[InThisSequinBraYesYouOlaJordan]

In terms of much older (than me that is) women, I think Helen Mirren and Sheila Hancock are looking very good atm.

Mary, I would definitely be interested in the "fit, flatter and quality" shop, ghettoised or not, but can I PLEASE beg you not to stop at a size 16 though??? That really is ghettoising.