So long, Topshop: I can tell the story of my life through stores I have loved and lost | Hadley Freeman

A stroll down my high street is like walking with the ghosts of Christmas past

As I write, Philip Green's Arcadia Group - which includes former high street stalwarts Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Evans - has collapsed into administration. Yes, Topshop! The once seemingly indomitable, all-conquering Topshop.

Doubtless, Green would point to Covid for this demise; some of us may crook a small finger in Green's direction. Famously a cuddly bundle of charm, Green fell out with the brilliant Jane Shepherdson, Topshop's former brand director and the architect of its rise through the 2000s, and she left in 2007. This resulted in a slow but notable downturn in the quality of the clothes, and left the fashion field wide open for retailers such as, on the one hand, Zara, and on the other, Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing, all of whom grasped far quicker than Green that the future lay online.