An evening with...Mary Portas

We're looking forward to welcoming Mary Portas to Abergavenny on September 29th to discuss her new book I Shop, Therefore I Am.

It's the 1990s: Britpop is dominating the charts, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell stare out from the cover of every glossy magazine and British fashion is ripe for reinvention. Leading the charge is a twenty-something Mary Portas who has been brought in to revitalise the department store Harvey Nichols, at the time more likely to be associated with dowagers than daring designers. With department stores in decline and an alpha male leadership team watching closely, the pressure is immense: make it profitable and make it relevant.

Mary steps into a world she doesn't fully understand - and at first, it shows. But what seems like vulnerability quickly reveals itself as vision. She doesn't rely on fitting in; she leans into instinct, takes bold creative risks and reimagines what luxury could be.

By the millennium, the store would be renowned for its outrageous, headline-grabbing, traffic-stopping window displays; patronage by style icon Lady Di and Bolly-swigging duo Patsy and Edina of the iconic sitcom Ab Fab - no longer fusty old Harvey Nicols but Harvey Nicks, daaarling! I Shop, Therefore I Am is the story of how she did it. Mary takes us behind the shop window - to the people who kept the show on the road and the early lessons that shaped her career. Told with her trademark wit, grit and candour, readers will see first-hand how, armed only with the blank canvas of a shop window and her own creativity, Mary created an era-defining global brand destination.

You may also like the following events from [book-ish]:

• This Saturday, 28th June, 10:00 am, Book Signing with Ian 'H' Watkins (H from Steps) in Abergavenny
• Next Friday, 4th July, 02:00 pm, Cake and Crime with Louise Candlish, Steph McGovern, and Tim Weaver in Ebbw Vale
• Next month, 16th July, 07:30 pm, An evening with...John Niven in conversation with James Dean Bradfield in Abergavenny

Also check out other Arts events in Abergavenny, Nonprofit events in Abergavenny.