How to Back Yourself When Sales Are Slow and Confidence Is Low

"Take care of the collection, and push the brand." Mary Portas on the only two levers a fashion brand needs, what really happens when the money men take over, and the Barbie window that nearly cost her her job. I have been sitting on this one for months. This is the closing conversation from Fashion Marketing Live, and my guest was Mary Portas. Yes, that Mary Portas. Mary Queen of Shops. The woman who walked into a loss-making Harvey Nichols at 28 and helped turn it into the most talked-about shop in London. Her agent asked me to send the questions in advance, so I printed them onto gorgeous little cards. Then, just before we walked on stage, Mary waved her hand and said, "Forget everything you've prepared." So this is less an interview and more Mary going wherever the energy takes her. There's swearing, there are very strong opinions, and I loved every second. What we cover: Why everyone's suddenly obsessed with the '90s, and why Mary says it isn't nostalgia. It's longing for connection, community and tribes.

I just wanted to let you have a quick listen to my other podcast. Retail consultant Catherine Erdly (host of The Resilient Retail Game Plan and I teamed up to launch "The Shopping Forecast" which is a podcast that proves shopping is about so much more than what's in your basket. Each episode we bring the receipts on current consumer trends and the cultural shifts shaping the way we shop, unpacking the psychology behind our purchases and the brands redefining consumer culture. Whether you love spotting trends before they hit the mainstream or are simply fascinated by why people buy what they buy, The Shopping Forecast is your weekly guide to the sociology of shopping.

There are only two things you need to get what you want: know what you want, and have the audacity to ask. Kira Matthews explains why the second one is so hard, and how to do it anyway.

Is a stylist a luxury or a business expense? My own stylist has an answer, and a number that settles it. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Stiles, host of this podcast, and this one's a bit personal. Sophia Bayly is my stylist — she has been since the early days of her business, back when I'd come out of lockdown living in gym leggings and could not have told you what my wardrobe was any more. Which, for someone who has worked in fashion her entire career, is slightly embarrassing to admit. I know what some of you are already thinking, because I thought it too: a stylist is expensive, it's frivolous, I'll do it when I'm making more money. So I put that to Sophia directly. Her answer reframed the whole thing for me — and it came with a stat that made my jaw drop. Sophia is a personal stylist for women in business: founders, the women building personal brands online, the ones who have built something successful, are suddenly being invited onto panels and podcasts and into rooms, and have looked in the wardrobe and realised it hasn't kept up with them. She's worked with over 80 of them, on both sides of the Atlantic. And because we're mates, this is less of an interview and more two friends being very honest about clothes and money. What we get into: The reframe: why Sophia stopped calling styling a personal treat and started calling it a business investment — and why clients say yes faster when she does

The Saturdays and S Club Juniors superstar Frankie Bridge and Leah Meredith built Faves out of something that started as a weekly post — Frankie trying on high street finds on her landing every Sunday. It's now a community-powered platform working with River Island, ASOS and Katie Loxton, running live events and a newsletter that out-engages everything they do on social. This one is about the unglamorous machinery underneath a business everyone assumes was easy because there's a famous name attached to it. Spoiler: it wasn't, and the famous name has occasionally made it harder. What Frankie and Leah get into: The Instagram DM Leah ignored because she assumed it was a fan account — and the year it then took Frankie to believe Faves was actually a business