Mary Portas

At the start of the 1990s Harvey Nichols was more associated with dowagers than daring designers. By the time Mary Portas finished as creative director it was the destination department store, with headline-grabbing, traffic-stopping window displays, Lady Di as a customer and namechecks aplenty in Ab Fab, thanks to a deal she made with Jennifer Saunders. The high street legend and Work Like a Woman author comes to the Festival with her no-holds-barred account of that time, I Shop, Therefore I Am.

In conversation with Gabby Huddart.