A fascinating dual biography of the women who founded today's beauty industryThey were both born in the nineteenth century in humble circumstances-Helena Rubinstein in an orthodox Jewish household in Krakow, Poland, Elizabeth Arden on a farm outside Toronto. But by the 1930s, they were bitter rivals[...]

In 1909, the largest department store in London's West End, designed and built from scratch, opened in Oxford Street in a glorious burst of publicity. The mastermind behind the facade was American retail genius Harry Gordon Selfridge: maverick businessman, risk-taker, dandy and one of the greatest s[...]

In 1909 London's first dedicated department store built from scratch opened in a glorious burst of publicity, spearheaded by the largest advertising campaign ever mounted in the British press. In his eponymous store Selfridge created nothing less than 'the theatre of retail'. His personal life was j[...]