STYLE FILE
■ Make a splash this summer in H&M’S latest swimwear collection. Not only does the range celebrate all body shapes, it has inclusive sizing from four to 22.
Expect classic bandeau tops, strapless swimsuits and curved briefs, all made in sustainable fabrics such as recycled polyester from recycled bottles. Prices start from just £3.99, hm.com
■ Cotton On, one of Australia’s biggest lifestyle brands has just thrown open its virtual doors in the UK. From denim and sustainable swim pieces, to active wear, the brand is bringing Aussie vibes to UK wardrobes just in time for the great British summer. The launch collection includes dresses for brunch in the sunshine and holiday suitcase essentials including eco-friendly swimwear. Prices from £3.50. See cottonon.com/uk ■ Podcasters The Girls Bathroom aka Sophia Tuxford and Cinzia Baylis-zullom, below, have collaborated with Slazenger on a tennis collection. The Slazenger X Sophia and Cinzia Collection includes sports bras, crop tops, T-shirts, hoodies and mini dresses. Prices from £4.50, store. slazenger.com
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m here with my children, there’s something deeply good about this.’ “I thought, ‘Here is love. Here are your kids.’ My brother was with us and that to me was the unit. I remember thinking, ‘What else do you need?’ That’s when acceptance came in.” Her lavish 60th birthday party in May 2020 was cancelled by Covid. She had a celebration of a different kind, but no less special, she recalls. “My brother baked the soda bread my mother used to make, we had a bottle of champers, a bottle of fizzy elderflower for Horatio, put a picnic together, went up Swift’s Hill (in Gloucestershire) and I thought, ‘This is enough.”’ She meditated, read a lot of books by spiritual teachers and philosophers, and considered if there had been a time in her life when she didn’t have enough. As a girl from Watford whose mother died when she was 16, Mary was left to look after her younger
Mary with the Duchess of Cornwall brother Lawrence when her father left the family home for another woman. Mary turned down a place at RADA – she had wanted to become an actress – to look after her brother. But those years taught her resilience.
“In my early years, when my mum died, I had so little. But I had enough. That was so telling. We can get by with so much less,” she says now.
After the initial fear about the future of her business after Covid, a sense of calm came over her.
It prompted the woman who once advised David Cameron’s government on the future of high streets to continue to champion the ‘kindness economy’, putting people and the planet first, above profit.
She has now written Rebuild, which shows how she reached this point and how we can reset postpandemic and build back better, becoming more socially and ethically responsible and not just focusing on consumerism and profit.
She throws in statistics about all the hot topics – the scourge of plastics, the discarded clothes which go into landfill, the young workers exploited so businesses can achieve the bottom line in consumer goods – and how businesses who don’t address these issues will fall by the wayside.
Her values also lie in the kindness of people, in collaboration, empathy, instinct and trust.
“I think we are much kinder now than we were in the 70s and 80s. In the 70s we didn’t have gay marriage, we didn’t have acceptance. My mother’s generation of the 60s meant the women had to be the housewives at home. Men were the main breadwinners. Come on!”
It’s ironic that she herself was once a tough and aggressive alpha figure who transformed the fortunes of Harvey Nichols, encouraging people to buy things they didn’t need, pushing consumerism to the hilt.
“Of course I regret it, but I knew no better. I thought that’s what you did.”
She has long been trying to change the business mindset and promote the ‘kindness economy’, its foundations were highlighted in her last book, Work Like A Woman.
Her company now advises businesses on how they can transform their behaviours to better impact the world and humanity and give everyone a better future, to do less bad and add more good.
She cites hugely successful companies such as Patagonia and Lush, whose environmental and ethical principals have proved a magnet for consumers. Her own staff has been reduced from 55 to 25, but the business has been moving in a different direction with a alternate focus for some years, she explains.
She says she is making less money while she rebuilds.
This year she also started a new podcast, The Kindness Economy, and still gives many talks to businesses.
Her proudest career achievement to date is the creating of 26 Mary’s Living and Giving charity shops for Save the Children.
So, like her ‘kindness economy’, is her new hairstyle going to stay?
“My daughter said, ‘Mum, I love your hair like that,’ so I decided to leave it and then people started commenting and I thought, ‘ You know what? I’m going to keep this.”’
■ Rebuild by Mary Portas is, Bantam Press, £14.99
By Melody Razak, W&N, £14.99 (ebook £7.99)
Melody Razak’s debut takes the reader to the home of a Brahmin family in 1940s Delhi. She navigates their beautiful yet complicated relationships as India builds up to and enters Partition.
Bappu and Ma (liberals of the time) teach at Delhi University, and their daughter Alma is due to get married. But the direction of their lives – already torn between modern values and tradition – is soon turned upside down.
Razak hones in on the strength and suffering of women; with moments as small as sharing stories, cooking food and plaiting hair becoming lifelines. Empathy is felt even for dislikeable Daadee Ma, who despite her distinctness, could be anyone’s grandmother.
Moth has a backdrop of religion, politics, class and violence, but the central focus is on family life. The character portrayal is so intricate that as the plot twists and turns, you care what happens to them. factory girls with personal struggles and has to ultimately decide where her loyalties lie. The story is uplifting in nature, with the Blitz spirit and camaraderie shining through.
The strength of the women is inspiring and can be a lesson to us all – let’s stick together and help lift each other up as best we can, no matter how hard life might get.