Marisota fashion: age and beauty

The Marisota label has worked wonders in widening the range of clothes and shoes for the older, larger woman, says Hilary Alexander.

What do you do if you’re 49 years old, 5ft 2in tall, take a size 16, and can’t find anything to wear because everything in the shops seems designed for a pin-thin 16-year-old?

Some women would curse the god of miniskirts and take their misery out on a glass or two of Pinot Grigio. But not Beverley Jamieson. The feisty Mancunian solved the problem by setting up her own label.

“I used to feel like a pariah when I was out shopping with my daughter,” she says. “She was 25 then, a size 10 and she could get anything she wanted. I was frustrated. I knew I could not be the only one.” She was right: 49 per cent of women in the UK are a size 16 or above.

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Jamieson, who has worked in fashion retail for nearly two decades, started by setting up a series of focus groups. “We asked more than 1,000 women about shopping on the high street. They were all 45-plus, they were successful and confident, andthat’s the way they wanted to look. But they were not happy with what they were being offered. It was depressing.”

Jamieson’s solution was Marisota, a brand specifically designed to cater for women aged 40 and upwards who are sizes 12 to 32, and have a variety of fit and style issues. But Jamieson didn’t stop there: she also took into account height and bust measurements, and addressed the perennial problem of shoes and boots for wide feet and calves.

The label was launched in August 2007 and now has over half a million customers, more than three-quarters of whom shop online.

Jamieson believes she has succeeded because she offers one of the most comprehensive choices of sizes, lengths and fit options in the home shopping arena.

Trousers and jeans come in up to four different lengths, shoes are generally sized between four and nine, in standard to EEE widths, and there is a collection of special Legroom boots in up to four different calf-widths. The lingerie choice is equally generous, with bras in sizes 34-56, B-JJ cups and some K and L cups. Swimwear is in sizes 12-32 and includes selected styles in 34-42, B-G, as well as the body‑streamlining Miraclesuit, in sizes 12-26.

Marisota has worked in the past with the plus-size designer, Anna Sholz, and the former Strictly Come Dancing judge, Arlene Phillips, has just finished designing a capsule range, which will be available from August. But Jamieson relies mainly on her dedicated team of designers and buyers.

“Our philosophy is simple,” she says. “We love discovering the latest looks, colours, shapes and styles. And we love shopping.”

All Marisota clothes, sizes 12 to 32, and shoes from a selection in 3-9, from Marisota, spring/summer 2010 collection; www.marisota.co.uk; 0871 9847612

PICTURES BY SIMON SONGHURST

Hair and make-up by Dirk Neuhoefer using Shu Uemura

Model: Cat Dal

Stylist: Hilary Alexander

Fashion assistant: Natasha Cowan

Photographed at Barrio Concha Y Torro, Santiago, Chile, courtesy The

Aubrey Hotel, explora and Exsus Travel; www.exsus.com; 020 7337 9000