Have we talked about Mary Portas' new collection, and if not, can we?

[EllaDee]

I know, I know, I should never have expected it to be anything good. Write up in the Guardian:

www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/2011/oct/07/mary-portas-melanie-rickey-fashion-power-couple-intervierw

Is it just me who thought that, um, if you have 100-200 to spend on a dress, it's not especially hard to find one, and the real 'gap in the market' is finding decent grown up clothes for less than than? What did you think to it?

higgle - yes, that's exactly what I felt! I wanted them to be a bit special because I do think MP sometimes dresses very well, but they are not quite special enough IMO. I'll go look at the real thing with my mate though, she is taller than me and may look better.

too expensive. give me Boden, White Stuff or Fat Face over this. I am 44 and I am not impressed

So do we not think she will do her 2mill a year t.over? Don't forget Wrap and Mint Velvet for nice stuff.

Just noticed the mint velvet ad on the site. Will have a gander but suspect too spenny for me.

Has anyone tried the armery? I quite fancy this idea to take a short sleeve dress into winter but is it a bit...odd?

Just to say as someone significantly older than 40+ I totally agree with Higgle - I can't see this gap in the market. My baby-boomer friends and I shop in all the shops she mentioned. And we certainly don't want more Radley bags, or those particular rather unstylish Clarks shoes!

Mint velvet sometimes has discount codes on the go. Also register with them and you'll get emails of sales.

Re the gap in the market thing, I would say that the gap is more at the high street lower price end. Yes you've got got Phase Eight, Whistles et al, but they tend to be a) pricier and b) not easily available on every high street in the way that Next, Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop, H&M etc are.

And a lot of the higher end labels don't do larger sizes as standard. Whistles only seem to go up to 16, for example.

I'm her target audience and I don't see anything I like in particular and certainly nothing I'd spend £150 on.

Well - I am absolutely Mary's target market, and I like most of it. I really do think it is totally different. Great colours, great fabrics, contemporary cuts and very few prints. I don't shop at Fat Face (too casual), White Stuff (ditto), Phase Eight (too printed) Whistles (too short) etc. I do shop at COS (poor woman's Marni) and Isabella Oliver, but it's not easy when you're not in Birmingham or London. Of course, you wouldn't buy it all, you'd edit the bits you love/need, but I'm pleased there's somewhere I can pop to locally, and have more than half a chance of finding something wearable. ANDI just bought Mary's little black suede kitten heeled ankle boots at Clarks and they are FAN-TAS-TIC. They have proper leather lined padded soles. They may change my life.

Yep, I'm her target market too, and I like some of the stuff. I wouldn't buy it all, but then I wouldn't buy all of anything. I think Phase Eight, Mint Velvet and the like that are often lauded on here are really same old same old. I've got the no-brainer dress in purple, though I think I might need a smaller size, and I do really like it -- there's certainly nothing I've seen on the high street that's similar, with an adventurous cut. I like the shoes, and the coloured tights and the armery is an excellent idea.

Ooh, I am glad to hear what you are saying about the cut. It does get irritating when you see something that looks nice but is just a bit too blah because the cut isn't good enough.

There are plenty of shops selling clothes very similar to Mary's capsule line - but I reckon the key to the market is providing the right service. I mean, I know Net a Porter's there, I'm just a bit scared of it. What the average, slightly under-confident 40+ customer needs is (are?) friendly, approachable, stylish sales assistants to show you how to make trends work for you, and for less than the cost of a mortgage payment.

I really like Mary Portas in her high street bossing programmes. I can't quite put my finger on why she's slightly got my back up with this one.

Well I m 34 and I ve seen quite a few things that I like in Mary's collection, how nice to be able to buy good quality clothes with no patterns that look contemporary and don't cost the earth, I for one cannot afford to shop at net a porter. A big thumbs up from me.