The most powerful woman you’ve never heard of
She changed the way you shop. Now Net-a-Porter’s scarily well-connected founder has set her sights on politics by Barbara Davies
BEHIND closed doors at one of the most exclusive addresses in Britain, preparations are under way for a rather extraordinary party.
Security arrangements at the £25 million home in South Kensington are firmly in place for next week’s soiree. And a luxury events firm has been drafted in to erect a marquee in the sumptuous gardens of the property — which is among the 50 most expensive in the country — and rustle up a supper to delight A-list stars and wealthy bankers.
The event is a £1,800-a-head fundraising dinner for U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, with the guest list strictly hushhush — though the Mail understands George and Amal Clooney are likely to be there, as well as media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and his Texan bride-to-be Jerry Hall.
And their host? Natalie Massenet; a divorced, British mother of two. She is the founder of fashion website Net-a-Porter, chair of the British Fashion Council, one of the world’s most successful businesswomen — and the owner of the stunning house in which this ultimate power party is to be held.
In the world of British business, many regard Massenet’s story as a fairytale. As an out-of-work fashion journalist, she launched an online shopping website from the kitchen of her London flat in 2000 and has turned it into a multi-million-pound global empire.
Last month, her success was recognised with a damehood, which she was awarded yesterday by Prince Charles. She is celebrating with another showstopping party at her home, this time with the likes of Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss on the guest list.
She is a woman with the celebrity world at her feet. And given her contacts and her reputation for having the Midas touch, it is hardly surprising that 50-year-old Massenet is seen as the woman who could help ease Hillary Clinton’s increasingly uphill climb to the White House.
ONE oF Massenet’s former colleagues told me: ‘ I’m not surprised Hillary has enlisted Natalie’s support. She’s extremely impressive and inspirational. She is also very personable and has a knack for making people want to work for her.’
According to another source: ‘Natalie is a firm believer in girl power. She’s calling upon all her contacts to fight Hillary’s corner.’
London’s American community has been a key target for presidential hopefuls since 2007, when former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani became the first to hold a fundraiser here. Bill Clinton and Michelle obama were hot on his heels, keen to plunder the accounts of wealthy U.S. bankers working in the City.
Massenet, whose late father was American and whose mother is British, has dual nationality, bridging the transatlantic gap well when it comes to encouraging wealthy U.S. expats to part with vast sums of cash.
‘I’ve heard she’s planning to get hundreds of thousands for Hillary on the night,’ says the source. ‘She’s aiming for a million dollars.’
As one of the most glamorous women in London, Massenet is perfectly positioned to do so. Thanks to the influence of Net-a-Porter, she inhabits a world peopled by celebrities: designers as well as key industry figures who understand all too well the power she wields.
Certainly, her life today is a world away from that kitchen table in her Notting Hill flat. Back then, the idea that she would become so powerful she would one day be enlisted to help with a presidential campaign was inconceivable.
Massenet was out of work and pregnant with her first child, Isabella, when she picked up a leaflet from Barclays bank about how to start a business.
‘I said to myself: “If my body is putting together a human being, cell by cell, DNA strand by DNA strand, then I can start a company.” ’
With the help of her thenhusband, French investment banker Arnaud Massenet, she found investors to get her business started at a time when the dot-com bubble was bursting and many online retailers were going bust.
Those who know Massenet say her drive and determination were evident in childhood, and that she was heavily influenced by her father, journalist and film publicist Bob Rooney, and her mother, Barbara, a former Chanel model.
Among her advocates is bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of the blockbuster A Woman of Substance, who has known Massenet since she was six years old and living in Paris.
At the time, Taylor Bradford and her film producer husband Robert were also living in the French capital, and Massenet’s father worked with Robert on several films.
‘I remember her as a little girl so clearly,’ says Taylor Bradford. ‘She was beautiful, very clever and smart, and interested in everything. I knew she was going places. You could see the woman in the child even then.’
Massenet was born in LA. When she was four, the family moved to Paris, where her father promoted films and her mother worked in high-end fashion boutiques.
They moved back to Los Angeles when Massenet was 11, but Barbara soon returned to Paris alone.
In an interview 18 months ago, Massenet said: ‘We had all moved to LA and then she decided to go back to Paris. That was hard.
‘My mum basically exited my life when I was about to become a teenager. I didn’t understand that. I guess I still don’t.’
Taylor Bradford, who first worked as a journalist, says she became something of a role model for the young girl: ‘She always used to say to me: “I’m your clone. I’m going to be a journalist like you.” ’
Massenet studied English at university in California and moved to London in 1996 after meeting Arnaud at Notting Hill Carnival.
She worked at Tatler magazine, but was ‘deeply unhappy’ there and left not long before she became pregnant with her first child.
It was around this time, recalls Taylor Bradford, that Massenet called her, full of excitement, to discuss her new business dream.
‘She said: “I’m going to be the next Emma Harte” — the protagonist in A Woman of Substance. I asked if she was going to open a shop and she said: “I’m going to open an internet shop and call it Net-aPorter.” I said that it was a wonderful idea, but that it sounded like hard work, and she said: “I know, but I’m going to do it.” ’
Massenet’s idea was to create an online magazine that would allow women to buy the latest designer clothes straight from the pages.
CUSToMERS were quickly charmed by the easy-to-use website and the black-ribboned bags delivered in liveried Net-a-Porter vans.
Ten years on, the company was valued at £350 million and Massenet and her original shareholders sold a majority stake to Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods giant. Massenet netted around £50 million for her share and reinvested £15 million while remaining executive chairman.
By September 2015, when Net-aPorter merged with Yoox, an online Italian discount fashion firm, the company was said to be worth £950 million. Massenet walked away with an estimated £100 million from the sale of her remaining shares.
The idea she conceived at her kitchen table has made her wealthier than she could have ever dreamed and given her a life that is charmed.
Aside from the palatial home she shares with her daughters Isabella, now 16, and nine-year-old Ava, her boyfriend is handsome Swedish entrepreneur Erik Torstensson, 37.
The family enjoy skiing holidays in Verbier, Switzerland, and Megeve, France, safaris in Kenya and beach breaks in Mustique, part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, The Hamptons, in the U.S., and Positano, Italy.
Massenet’s name features on guest lists for the most coveted events. Two years ago, President obama invited her to dine at the White House. She wore white Valentino and a necklace that once belonged to Jackie onassis.
But the Hillary Clinton fundraiser undoubtedly marks a shift in Massenet’s extraordinary career.
‘It shows how far she has come,’ says Taylor Bradford. ‘ She’s changed the world of fashion and retail, but her success hasn’t been handed to her on a plate. She’s a very hard-working woman. There’s nothing she can’t do.’
Questions have been asked about what she will do next. Papers filed at Companies House reveal she’s set up a new business called Imaginary Ventures Ltd — though she has remained tight-lipped as to what, exactly, it’s about.
Not surprisingly, given how influential she’s become, she’s being tipped as Anna Wintour’s successor at Vogue. Taylor Bradford jokes that she may, one day, go even further than that.
‘She makes a success of whatever she does. If anyone could be President of the United States, I’d say it was Natalie Massenet. She is truly a woman of substance.’