Fearne Cotton is preparing to launch her own pop-up shop selling a collection of items curated from the designers she met while filming ‘Fearne On Fashion’.
Cotton sought advice on her latest venture from Mary Portas - however, she didn’t initially get the response she hoped for, as the ‘Queen of Shops’ tried to suppress a fit of giggles due to Cotton’s lack of retail experience.
While this may have been enough to put off some fashionistas with weaker resolve, it merely strengthened Cotton’s determination to forge ahead with her scheme.
“The secret’s out,” she said. “At the end of this series I’ll be opening my own fashion pop-up.”
Cotton decided to seek out Portas’ guidance, as she wants to create the same “jewel-box” effect found in Mary’s Living And Giving shops, by putting together a collection full of stand-out pieces.
Portas advised Cotton to trust her own judgement - “If you don’t love it don’t put it in,” - and to give people the opportunity to rummage and discover their own “style stories”.
“Fifteen years ago everybody was after status symbols, today it’s status stories,” said Portas.
“So they’ll come out and go, ‘oh I popped into Fearne’s shop and I bought this outfit...’ Little stories. It just makes people feel great about what they bought.”
To counter Cotton’s lack of retail experience - which consists of a Blue Peter sale in her front garden and a stint in her grandfather’s florist until he “kindly” asked her to move on - Portas suggests she gets some work experience and Cotton gamely tried out her skills as a personal shopper in New Look.
Fearne’s pop-up shop will be filmed for a special episode of ‘Fearne On Fashion’. Further details will be announced shortly, so keep checking back for information on when and where it will be held.
Fearne Cotton has delved behind the scenes of the fashion industry for a revealing new video series premiering on The Huffington Post UK Style. In the 10-part ‘Fearne On Fashion’ series Cotton shares an eye-opening insight into the chaos of Fashion Week, the virtues of vintage and what drives us to buy the latest high street trends in droves.