Designer leaves Topshop days after signing up Kate Moss

The woman credited with turning Topshop into a worldwide fashion phenomenon that has even A-list celebrities lusting for its designs has quit just days after the chain signed up Kate Moss to launch a new line of clothing.

Jane Shepherdson, lauded as the most powerful woman in fashion by the trade journal Drapers, is leaving the Arcadia-owned chain without lining up a new job first.

Her decision to go is a big blow for Sir Philip Green, the billionaire owner of Arcadia and Bhs, who brokered the deal with Moss.

Sir Philip "rubbished" suggestions that Shepherdson, who has worked for the chain since leaving university with a business studies degree, had quit because she was upset at being sidelined on the decision to hire the super model.

"She was in on all the discussions," he said, adding that the choice of Moss had been "unanimous".

The upheaval at Topshop comes as the chain is preparing to open its first store in New York. A flagship outlet in Manhattan will cement the chain's position at the forefront of global retail. More stores are likely to follow in other fashion capitals such as Paris.

Shepherdson is expected to have job offers pouring in.

The former Topshop brand director has turned down key positions at Marks & Spencer, Next and New Look in recent years. Stuart Rose's predecessor as head of M&S wanted Shepherdson to be its head of clothing, but she turned the job down.

M&S is unlikely to court her again because the retailer has given up trying to woo the sorts of young shoppers that stalk the aisles of Topshop.

"She's hot property," one chief executive of a rival high street retailer said.

Industry sources believe Shepherdson grew frustrated at the low profile she was forced to keep by her employer.

"Philip didn't give her enough credit for what she did at Topshop," the executive added.

Since Sir Philip bought Arcadia in 2002 for £850 million (from Stuart Rose who was running it at the time), Topshop has been his best performing chain.

It is tipped to have made £100 million profits in the past year - more than twice as much as the entire Bhs empire, which suffered last year from a lack of attention from Sir Philip.

"Is it disappointing? Yes it is. But I'm not going to appear on the front page of the newspapers with a gun to my head saying 'I'm going to shoot myself'," Sir Philip said.

"If Zara opened a store in New York and Ortega [the chain's founder] was run over by a bus would it survive? Of course it would. Hopefully we have the skill, the talent and the commercial sense to take the business to the next level."

He is not rushing to replace Shepherdson, who will hand over to her top two colleagues - who are also both Topshop lifers - before leaving the business.

Karyn Fenn, the buying director, and Mary Homer, the commercial and merchandising director, will take over day-to-day operations - for now at least. Sir Philip pointed out that between them they had 38 years of experience at the chain.

In a statement Arcadia said that Shepherdson had decided it was "time for a change".

It added that the decision to hire Moss had "absolutely nothing to do with her decision to leave the business".

One industry source speculated that Shepherdson, who did well financially out of Sir Philip's purchase of Arcadia and subsequent golden handcuff pay deal, was keen to do something more entrepreneurial.

As well as Rose, Shepherdson worked for John Hoerner, who is now the head of clothing at Tesco.

She helped to bury the chain's former nickname "Topflop" by providing cutting-edge fashion on a conveyor belt at prices that left teenagers with change from their pocket money.

Under her, the chain also became popular with women in their 30s and 40s.

- INDEPENDENT