Mary, Queen of Shops Educates the Sizest Boutique Owner
BBC2 series “Mary Queen of Shops”
It is no surprise that many women in Ascot found comments made by boutique owner, Amanda Collins, offensive. She described her plus size customers as “no hoper”, “bouncy castle belly” and “the bullet.” Her “sizest” remarks may be responsible for last years’ loss of business. Mary Portas kicked off the new BBC2 series “Mary Queen of Shops” with failing boutique Blinkz.
Blinkz drab shop décor and dull clothes made shopping anything but pleasant. “For big women who sweat a lot” Amanda offered her ‘best seller’ - a shapeless top in thin material. The “no hoper dress” looked like a sack. Same colour separates in different fabrics were recommended for “the bullet” (where the stomach is pronounced).
Women were asked at random for their opinion on Amanda’s clothes. Nobody liked the outfits and some were laughed at. Loose styles disguised body shapes rather than figure enhancing styles. Amanda described her plus size customers as though they were on another planet even though 57% of British women are size 14 plus. The fashion industry is biased towards smaller sizes and there’s a massive gap in the market for fashionable plus size clothing.
To find out how to make her business successful, Amanda visited retailers who sell fashionable and flattering clothes to larger ladies. At Harrods, Mary Portas pointed out that fitted clothes can be comfortable and more flattering than the loose frumpy clothes Amanda stocked to “disguise misshaped and sad bodies.” The lingerie company Fantasie specialise in plus sizes to celebrate a curvy woman’s shape. They staged a photo shoot styled by Amanda to make her aware that lingerie is an area of the clothing industry that is extremely popular and lucrative. Evans staff improved Amanda’s customer service skills by replacing negative words with positive words like “curvy”, “flatter”, “confident” and “fantastic.” Marie Claire editors helped Amanda interpret fashion trends to buy the right collections for her boutique by reading up-to-date fashion magazines. A former plus size model and leading designer, Anna Scholz, showed off her latest collection of body enhancing, beautiful and sensual dresses. Anna understands the big and beautiful market and explained her clothes are designed first and adapted to the body shape making large women appear slimmer. Ideas to create a sophisticated, modern shopping environment were found in the
Matthew Williamson shop in Mayfair. They included beautiful lights, dresses hanging from chandeliers and clothes rails in different colours that led the eye from one wall to the other.
Mary Portas planned a marketing stunt to junk frumpy clothes in a “recycling machine” to launch the renamed boutique “The Fit”. During a preview evening customers appreciated Amanda’s improved customer service skills, positive comments about their shape, the beautiful clothes and shop décor and agreed that the boutique now had that “wow factor.”
For more information about the latest collection of body enhancing, beautiful and sensual dresses by Anna Scholz, visit: