Lindy Woodhead worked in international fashion public relations for over 25 years. During the late 1980s she spent two years as the first woman on Harvey Nichols' board of directors. Lindy retired from fashion in 2000 to concentrate on writing; her first book, War Paint (Virago), a biography of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, was published in 2003. Her second book, Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge (Profile), was adapted into an ITV drama that ran for four series. She is a regular contributor to The Spectator and The Times Saturday Magazine . A Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, she is married with two sons and lives in southwest London and southwest France.