Mary Portas - On Style

Episodes

TitleFirst
Broadcast
RepeatedComments
All Change: from fast fashion to rental with Jane Shepherdson, talking tights with Tahlia Gray, and the home office.20210209

Sometimes trends emerge slowly, and sometimes they arrive with a bang. This week Mary Portas examines just a few of the ways the events of the past year have impacted the way we dress, shop and live. We look at our high streets; how they adapted, who thrived - and who didn't. In a year when we were all forced to slow down and think, how did our relationship to fast fashion fare? Did 2020 make ethical consumers of us, and will those habits stay?

How did staying home change what our homes meant to us and what we needed from them? We look at designing a home office that makes it feel like you are working from home, rather than living at work. And what do we need from a sofa today? We hear from made.com design director Ruth Wassermann, and from Sonia Solicari from The Museum of the Home.

As the woman who made Topshop the coolest shop on the planet, Jane Shepherdson's name was once synonymous with the high street. We find out we she thinks the future is rental, not retail.

And we meet one entrepreneur who couldn't wait for change, and created it herself. Tahlia Gray could never find tights that matched her skin tone, which led her to found Sheer Chemistry tights for women of colour.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Cyrill Gutsch, Miss Jason in Cardiff, September Fashion Weeks20191008

Cyrill Gutsch - founder of Parley for the Oceans, an organisation dedicated to throwing a spotlight on the impact of plastic in our environment, and collaborating with a range of designers to reinvent the way in which products are made - talks to Mary about why he believes the new frontier for all areas of design is the creation of new materials.

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in Cardiff talking to the people he meets about whether the clothes they put on in the morning affect how they feel for the rest of the day.

September is a peak month in the Fashion calendar - it's when designers show their spring and summer collections for the following year. Sarah Mower, Chief Fashion Critic for Vogue.com and the Fashion writer and blogger Susie Lau are among those dedicated to observing and analysing the cavalcade of clothing that takes place in New York, London, Milan, and Paris throughout this equinoctial month. They join Mary to discuss their September highlights and to explain why now Fashion has to enlighten as well as delight.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Cyrill Gutsch, Miss Jason in Cardiff, September Fashion Weeks2019100820191012 (R4)

Cyrill Gutsch - founder of Parley for the Oceans, an organisation dedicated to throwing a spotlight on the impact of plastic in our environment, and collaborating with a range of designers to reinvent the way in which products are made - talks to Mary about why he believes the new frontier for all areas of design is the creation of new materials.

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in Cardiff talking to the people he meets about whether the clothes they put on in the morning affect how they feel for the rest of the day.

September is a peak month in the Fashion calendar - it's when designers show their spring and summer collections for the following year. Sarah Mower, Chief Fashion Critic for Vogue.com and the Fashion writer and blogger Susie Lau are among those dedicated to observing and analysing the cavalcade of clothing that takes place in New York, London, Milan, and Paris throughout this equinoctial month. They join Mary to discuss their September highlights and to explain why now Fashion has to enlighten as well as delight.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Glowing Up and Dressing Down... Revolutions in Beauty and Loungewear20220510

This week we look at the lasting impact the pandemic has had on so many of our hairstyles with stylist George Northwood. We're embracing the grey, creating softer shapes and natural styles and seeking environmentally friendly products. Serena Rees was a pioneer in the 90s with her glamourous lingerie brand Agent Provocateur and she's doing all over again, leading the trend for loungewear that you'd leave the house in with her new range 'Les Girls Les Boys'. Finally, journalist Anita Bhagwandas takes us through some of the enormous changes in the beauty industry over the past few years - and the hottest trends for this year.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Hairstylist George Northwood, Anita Bhagwandas on beauty, and Serena Rees.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Glowing Up and Dressing Down... Revolutions in Beauty and Loungewear2022051020220616 (R4)

This week we look at the lasting impact the pandemic has had on so many of our hairstyles with stylist George Northwood. We're embracing the grey, creating softer shapes and natural styles and seeking environmentally friendly products. Serena Rees was a pioneer in the 90s with her glamourous lingerie brand Agent Provocateur and she's doing all over again, leading the trend for loungewear that you'd leave the house in with her new range 'Les Girls Les Boys'. Finally, journalist Anita Bhagwandas takes us through some of the enormous changes in the beauty industry over the past few years - and the hottest trends for this year.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Hairstylist George Northwood, Anita Bhagwandas on beauty, and Serena Rees.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Innovate! Gymshark's Ben Francis, Christopher Kane and Kassia St Clair on technology and colour20210223

This week Mary and guests are fashion forward as we examine technology, innovation, and look to a post-lockdown style future

Ben Francis founded activewear brand Gymshark in 2012 at the age of just 17. Today the company is valued at more than £1 Billion. Mary speaks to Ben about riding the Athleisure wave, and harnessing the power of social media.

We talk Technicolour with Kassia St Clair. How does technology influence the colours we see, the clothes we buy and how we decorate our homes?

The fashion designer Christopher Kane is known for being an innovator. In the past year he's seen huge success with his 'More Joy' range, created with his sister Tammy. Tammy and Christopher discuss the enduring popularity of the slogan in fashion, and the importance of calling for joy in uncertain times.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Joy: with The Repair Shop's Jay Blades, Lizzie Ostrom on Perfume and BCALLA and the Art of Drag20210202

Mary Portas explores style with substance, democratic design and fashion that is fun, but not frivolous, in her new series on what style means to us and the way we live today. In the first episode of the series we are in search of joy and colour, celebrating style that brings us closer to the people we live.

Mary is joined by fragrance specialist Lizzie Ostrom aka 'Odette Toilette' to discuss invisible style: perfume. Scent is intrinsically linked to memory, and we examine the way it has brought us closer to the people and places we've missed in lockdown. We also look at how the perfume market fared during the past 12 months, and get some tips from Lizzie on choosing a signature scent online.

One of the unlikely TV hits of the past few years has been The Repair Shop, the programme where much loved heirlooms are given a new lease of life by a team of experts. The Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades joins us from his workshop in Wolverhampton to discuss what makes the show so special, how to bring back dying crafts, and his own work as a designer and furniture restorer.

Drag Culture is truly having its moment, so Mary speaks to Brad Callahan, the designer behind BCALLA. The go-to designer for many Queens, his outlandish, colourful, high concept fashion looks have also been seen on the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.

We also drop in on just a few of the makers, designers and shopkeepers across the country bringing joy to our homes and wardrobes, keeping our high streets vibrant and challenging our addiction to mindless consumerism by offering us a slower, better and more sustainable way to shop.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Li Edelkoort, Miss Jason in London, RIBA's new Neave Brown Housing Award20190924

When the distinguished trends forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort provides her vision of the future in her General Trends Books, her pronouncements are eagerly awaited by those working in the worlds of fashion and design. She talks to Mary about the reasons behind the one forecast she's made that the fashion world hasn't wanted to hear - Fashion is dead. However it's not all bad news as she shares her thoughts about the trends she thinks will be influencing what we'll be wearing in the very near future.

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in London talking to those he encounters in Covent Garden about the item of clothing that's had the longest residency in their wardrobe.

As housing hits the headlines this week with a new report released by the National Housing Federation revealing that one in eight people are living in unaffordable and unsuitable housing, Mary turns her attention to a new architecture prize for housing - the Neave Brown Award, which has been established by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mary is joined by RIBA's immediate past president, Ben Derbyshire, and the architecture and design journalist and editor, Jessica Mairs, to discuss whether it's possible to bring architectural flair to social housing.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Distinguished trends forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort on the death of fashion.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Li Edelkoort, Miss Jason in London, RIBA's new Neave Brown Housing Award2019092420190928 (R4)

When the distinguished trends forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort provides her vision of the future in her General Trends Books, her pronouncements are eagerly awaited by those working in the worlds of fashion and design. She talks to Mary about the reasons behind the one forecast she's made that the fashion world hasn't wanted to hear - Fashion is dead. However it's not all bad news as she shares her thoughts about the trends she thinks will be influencing what we'll be wearing in the very near future.

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in London talking to those he encounters in Covent Garden about the item of clothing that's had the longest residency in their wardrobe.

As housing hits the headlines this week with a new report released by the National Housing Federation revealing that one in eight people are living in unaffordable and unsuitable housing, Mary turns her attention to a new architecture prize for housing - the Neave Brown Award, which has been established by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mary is joined by RIBA's immediate past president, Ben Derbyshire, and the architecture and design journalist and editor, Jessica Mairs, to discuss whether it's possible to bring architectural flair to social housing.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Distinguished trends forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort on the death of fashion.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Make Do & Mend: Michelle Ogundehin and the happy home, Orsola de Castro and Anki Josefsson on making and caring for your clothes20210216

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today. This week, make do and mend...but make it fashion.

Mary Portas is joined by Anki Josefsson who started The Assembly Line when she wanted to make her own clothes but couldn't find sewing patterns that suited her scandi-minimalist style.

And we also hear from Fashion Revolution's Orsola de Castro on how looking after your clothes can be a radical act, the philosophy she outlines in her own book 'Loved Clothes Last.

What does it mean to 'fix' your home? Author, broadcaster and creative consultant Michelle Ogundehin wants us to think about how our homes impact our mental and physical well-being, and thinks we can all make simple design choices that will make us happier.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Menswear and Gender-Fluid Fashion20220426

Mary Portas is back with another series of the programme that celebrates style with substance, and this week we're focusing on menswear's past, present and future. Mary visits the V&A to meet their Senior Curator Claire Wilcox and to take a look at their new exhibition 'Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear'. The show mixes historic and contemporary looks ranging from 18th-century opulence to the art of suit tailoring. We also meet designer Edward Crutchley who talks us through his look in the show, an enormous gown designed with the male body in mind.

Mary speaks to Jonathan Anderson, founder of the label JW Anderson, one of the driving forces in fashion reconsidering its rigid separation between menswear and womenswear. We also hear how his theatre background inspired his designs, incorporating influences from art and literature in clothing, and about how the pandemic sparked his creativity.

Finally Mary sits down with rising star Priya Ahluwalia whose work is inspired by her dual Indian-Nigerian heritage and London roots. Priya Ahluwalia is committed to sustainability, and was awarded the 2021 Queen Elizabeth II Award for Fashion Design for her work with her eponymous label Ahluwalia.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary visits the V&A and meets JW Anderson, Edward Crutchley and Priya Ahluwalia.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Menswear and Gender-Fluid Fashion2022042620220602 (R4)

Mary Portas is back with another series of the programme that celebrates style with substance, and this week we're focusing on menswear's past, present and future. Mary visits the V&A to meet their Senior Curator Claire Wilcox and to take a look at their new exhibition 'Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear'. The show mixes historic and contemporary looks ranging from 18th-century opulence to the art of suit tailoring. We also meet designer Edward Crutchley who talks us through his look in the show, an enormous gown designed with the male body in mind.

Mary speaks to Jonathan Anderson, founder of the label JW Anderson, one of the driving forces in fashion reconsidering its rigid separation between menswear and womenswear. We also hear how his theatre background inspired his designs, incorporating influences from art and literature in clothing, and about how the pandemic sparked his creativity.

Finally Mary sits down with rising star Priya Ahluwalia whose work is inspired by her dual Indian-Nigerian heritage and London roots. Priya Ahluwalia is committed to sustainability, and was awarded the 2021 Queen Elizabeth II Award for Fashion Design for her work with her eponymous label Ahluwalia.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Mary visits the V&A and meets JW Anderson, Edward Crutchley and Priya Ahluwalia.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Phoebe English, Miss Jason in Glasgow, Contemporary Chinese furniture design20191001

At the recent London Fashion Week, designer Phoebe English made waves not just for the clothes she'd made but the work involved in designing her label's most sustainable collection. She had stood down from three seasons of fashion shows in order to research the best ways of ensuring her label was using sustainable materials and minimising waste. She talks to Mary about why she feels that fashion will need to look to the past as well as to the future to find solutions for its damaging environmental impact.

This week Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, Miss Jason, is in Glasgow talking to those he encounters on Buchanan Street about whether they're happy to repair their clothing, or does a missing button or tear mean that the garment in question is destined for the bin?

Chinese furniture design has been rising in originality, skill, and popularity in China. The proliferation of furniture fairs and design weeks in the country have been important launch pads for new generations of Chinese designers but arguably the most important lever for change has been the Made in China initiative which the Chinese government launched in 2015 with the aim of turning China into a design superpower. Design author Charlotte Fiell, who has just co-written a book called Contemporary Chinese Furniture Design, and Zheng Qu, architect, urban designer, and founder of the Chinese Design Centre join Mary to discuss why 5000 years of design history are now providing China's design future.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Staying In and Going Out20220517

This week we're embracing the return of event dressing with fashion designer Jenny Packham, who has been creating beautiful gowns for the past 35 years. She talks bespoke bridal, sustainable sequins, and what she's learnt from failure.

Dieter Rams is a hero in the design world. His 10 principals of design have become a foundational text for designers the world over. This month he turns 90 and we talk to Dejah Sudijc about his most influential designs and his practise that aimed for sustainability at a time when the rest of the world was becoming enthralled by disposable plastic.

Finally former Vogue colleagues Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood on their cross-generational partnership at Collagerie, Spring style, and why the time was right for the comeback of the flared jean.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Jenny Packham, Collagerie and Dieter Rams at 90.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Staying In and Going Out2022051720220623 (R4)

This week we're embracing the return of event dressing with fashion designer Jenny Packham, who has been creating beautiful gowns for the past 35 years. She talks bespoke bridal, sustainable sequins, and what she's learnt from failure.

Dieter Rams is a hero in the design world. His 10 principals of design have become a foundational text for designers the world over. This month he turns 90 and we talk to Dejah Sudijc about his most influential designs and his practise that aimed for sustainability at a time when the rest of the world was becoming enthralled by disposable plastic.

Finally former Vogue colleagues Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood on their cross-generational partnership at Collagerie, Spring style, and why the time was right for the comeback of the flared jean.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

Jenny Packham, Collagerie and Dieter Rams at 90.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Style with Substance, Online20220503

What does style with substance mean in a digital world? Mary Portas find out how an estate agent became an Instgram sensation, speaking to The Modern House's Matt Gibberd about using editorial techniques to sell houses, and about his five design principals - space, light, materials, nature, and decoration. Glassette co-founder Laura Jackson on curating homewares, her focus on sustainability, and revolutionisng the way we buy art online. We also hear from Kai Collective's founder Fisayo Longe on how Instagram is the new high street, and we visit HEWI to hear about second-hand luxury.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen

The Modern House, Glassette, Kai Collective and Hewi.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Style With Substance, Online2022050320220609 (R4)What does style with substance mean in a digital world? Mary Portas find out how an estate agent became an Instgram sensation, speaking to The Modern House's Matt Gibberd about using editorial techniques to sell houses, and about his five design principals - space, light, materials, nature, and decoration. Glassette co-founder Laura Jackson on curating homewares, her focus on sustainability, and revolutionisng the way we buy art online. We also hear from Kai Collective's founder Fisayo Longe on how Instagram is the new high street, and we visit HEWI to hear about second-hand luxury.

Presenter: Mary Portas

Producer: Jessica Treen

The Modern House, Glassette, Kai Collective and Hewi.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Tom Dixon on British design, Miss Jason in Liverpool, Fashion Revolution, Design Museums at 3020190917

Last night Tom Dixon was presented with the prestigious London Design Medal 2019. He joins Mary to discuss British design, how TouchyFeelySmellyNoisyTasty - the new multi-sensory lab he's created for the London Design Festival - explores the roots of good design, and why pairing a restaurant with a furniture showroom is a match made in design heaven.

Miss Jason, Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, is in Liverpool checking out people's personal style and, as we reach the midpoint of Second Hand September, he'll be asking the people he meets about their attitude to second hand shopping.

Carry Somers, co-founder and Global Operations Director of campaigning organisation Fashion Revolution discusses their new wall planner, and the power of fashion activism.

In 1989 two of the world's first Design Museums - the Design Museum in London and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil Am Rhein opened their doors for the first time. Three decades on, their respective Directors, Deyan Sudjic and Mateo Kries discuss how perceptions of what design can be have evolved in the last 30 years.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.

Tom Dixon on British design, Miss Jason in Liverpool, Fashion Revolution, Design Museums at 302019091720190921 (R4)

Last night Tom Dixon was presented with the prestigious London Design Medal 2019. He joins Mary to discuss British design, how TouchyFeelySmellyNoisyTasty - the new multi-sensory lab he's created for the London Design Festival - explores the roots of good design, and why pairing a restaurant with a furniture showroom is a match made in design heaven.

Miss Jason, Mary Portas: On Style's fashion correspondent, is in Liverpool checking out people's personal style and, as we reach the midpoint of Second Hand September, he'll be asking the people he meets about their attitude to second hand shopping.

Carry Somers, co-founder and Global Operations Director of campaigning organisation Fashion Revolution discusses their new wall planner, and the power of fashion activism.

In 1989 two of the world's first Design Museums - the Design Museum in London and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil Am Rhein opened their doors for the first time. Three decades on, their respective Directors, Deyan Sudjic and Mateo Kries discuss how perceptions of what design can be have evolved in the last 30 years.

Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Mary Portas: On Style - the new Radio 4 series where style meets substance.

Mary Portas explores what style means to us and the way we live today.