WITH more than 10 million viewers a week, Great British Bake Off is easily the country’s favourite programme.
The much-hyped X Factor, by contrast, could barely manage six million for its first Sunday show last weekend, its lowest-ever audience.
As a result of the huge audiences since switching to BBC1 last year, GBBO has become a goldmine for all involved and none more so than Mary Berry.
Everything she touches rises to fluffy, incredibly lucrative, perfection.
From clothing to kitchens, books to bakeware, anything linked to the remarkable 80-year-old doyenne of British baking is a sure-fire success.
There are still those who believe that, once women reach a certain vintage, they are expected to adopt a uniform of beige and forget any notion of standing out from the crowd.
Someone forgot to tell octogenarian pink lady Mary.
Ian West / PA Wire
There is indeed something about Mary. And that something is bright. The secret of her style success is as simple as she doesn’t mind standing out, being bold, being colourful and shunning traditional “old lady” shades such as beige and grey.
In the past four series, she’s been all about the brights. That’s when she started getting noticed.
Look back to the first series in 2010, though, and her style is completely different. Neutral. Grey. A-line. Dare we say it, granny-ish. Then it’s as if she thought, to hang with it! I’m a pensioner, but I’m pink and I’m proud!
Out came the floral Zara bomber jacket in 2012, on went the bright pink lipstick and a style guru was born.
That Zara jacket started something.
They call it the Mary Berry effect. Costing just £29.99 from Zara, of course the jacket immediately sold out.
Now trendy fashion magazines follow Mary’s every move. She is old enough to be their granny, but she’s got girls in their late teens and 20s wondering what she’ll wear next. That’s style.
Dominic Lipinski / PA
Look magazine, firmly aimed at younger women, even has Mary Berry Jacket Watch every week.
And looking at the marvellous Mrs B’s style, it’s little wonder.
She loves the high street and down-to-earth prices and says that with the series approaching she starts thinking about what she’ll be donning.
“I can’t pass a shop without having a little look in. I’ve even been brave buying them on the internet.”
Such is her influence fellow judge Paul Hollywood jokes: “Whatever Mary wears is immaterial. It’ll sell out anyway. Mary could come out in a hessian bag and it’d sell.”
Ben Pruchnie / Getty Images
Hessian, in fairness, may be a step too far, but the jackets certainly aren’t.
“There are some good jackets this year,” admits Mary. “All of them nice and cosy. All I’m actually doing is keeping nice and warm.
“That tent opens up a side. It’s the most freezing place and I always buy my clothes a bit big, I don’t have anything fitting.
“I notice that Mel and Sue always have their clothes really quite fitting and I always make sure I can do the jacket up really well.”
Her latest sell-out, the Louche Hallie jacket from Joy, was bright pink, boxy and brilliant and yours for a mere £25, down from £69.
“We were thrilled that Mary wore our Louche Hallie jacket in the first episode of this series as well as in the promotional clips and photos before the show aired,” says Stephanie Cox of Joy. “The reaction was great and we sold out of the jacket both online and instores within 24 hours of the episode going live. The ‘Mary Effect’ really works.”
At the National Television Awards in 2013, Mary rocked the red carpet in a floor-length dress from Damsel in a Dress.
It was shiny. It showed off her arms. And it was in brilliantly bright blue, rather than old-lady beige. And she stole the show.
Mary’s got some interesting style rules. She’s never owned trainers, believing they “make you sloppy”. She loves skinny jeans.
But style is far from the only “Mary Berry effect”.
Dominic Lipinski / PA
Estate agents use just that phrase, saying that viewers wanting a space to be able to recreate her showstoppers and technical challenges have now made kitchens the number one feature to tempt buyers.
And knowing how to recreate those stunning bakes has led to a surge in her book sales.
She already had 60 books to her name through the decades, but suddenly being known to the world through Bake Off has made a massive difference.
The 10 books she’s published since it started have netted her almost £2 million, according to industry estimates.
Being the hottest of hot properties has helped Mary amass a later-life fortune estimated at £15m.
Good golly Miss Mary!How does Bake Off’s Flora cope with nerves? Lots of G&Ts with lime! – click here
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