Selfridges and the Push to Reinvent Retail

The ConceptThe Corner Shop at Selfridges London is exhibition-meets-retail space in the department’s store’s 60,000 sq ft accessories hall that spotlights a revolving selection of artists, designers and tastemakers.Dominating the windows on the junction between Duke and Oxford Street, the plan is for shoppers to pop into the gallery to purchase related items or merchandise. Now, they can even pay a visit to the store in the metaverse or scoop up an NFT.Part of Selfridges’ push to reinvent retail, since its launch in 2017, The Corner Shop has hosted collabs with designers such as Gucci, Moncler and Burberry, the first physical Pangaia store, Prada on Ice and Clash de Cartier. The CollaborationThe Corner Shop is currently home to a multi-layered cultural collaboration between the Vasarely Foundation, Paco Rabanne and Selfridges. Running from 13 January - 27 March, Universe explores the work of ground-breaking artist Victor Vasarely, his influence on contemporaries such as Paco Rabanne, and how his work continues to shape their future.Designed to resemble a studio or catwalk, with myriad spotlights and tiered metal staging, the climate-controlled gallery is a high-impact space featuring beautifully curated displays of art and fashion.Fifty-five of Vasarely’s artworks are displayed in-store (37 are for sale), with other designs adorning 24 window displays. These include the monochromatic Tilla (1958) and the vibrant Orion MC (1963), plus a selection of prints and exclusive collabs. Don’t forget to look down: even the floor has undergone a hypnotic Vasarely makeover. There’s a neat charity angle too, with proceeds from sales generated used to restore and upkeep works at the Vasarely foundation in Aix-en-Provence, France.Exhibited alongside the grandfather of Op-Art are further exclusive collaborations and new season and vintage fashions from Paco Rabanne, including the brand’s signature metallic disc dresses (1969). These two icons make for a natural partnership, with Paco Rabanne's current Creative Director, Julien Dossena, referencing Rabanne’s long-time fascination with Op-Art throughout the Spring/Summer 22 collection – think Vasarely’s bold optical illusions printed across garments and co-ords, psychedelic-printed tops, skirts and geometric-print wide-leg trousers.All of these items are available to buy in the gallery merchandise area of the accessories hall, along with exclusive Vasarely-inspired collectibles, from skateboards with psychedelic decks to geometric-printed cushions and stationary covered in magical, mind-bending designs.The TwistIn a UK retail store first, Selfridges is selling NFTs related to the Universe exhibition alongside select physical products. Some 1,800 rare Vasarely paintings and vintage Paco Rabanne designs have been turned into NFTs by London-based NFT platform Substance, which has added a unique spin to the experience. Select Paco Rabanne NFTs will be sold with their physical counterparts, and digital garments can be worn across multiple virtual platforms.But instead of being sold via a digital auction and paid for with crypto as is the norm, these NFTs retail at a fixed price ranging from £2,000 to more than £100,000 and can be purchased with a credit card from a touchscreen kiosk: Substance automatically creates a digital wallet for each buyer, storing the NFT within it.Can’t make it in-store? No problem. Selfridges is hosting a twinned experience in the metaverse, building on the success of its Selfridges x Yahoo x Charli Cohen Phygital Metaverse launch last year. Allowing ultra-portability both between digital worlds and the IRL/metaverse divide, designer Charli Cohen collaborated with Selfridges and Yahoo’s immersive storytelling division Yahoo Ryot Lab for Electric/City. In-game hotspots let fans buy physical garments (which they then digitised via an AR body-tracking Snapchat lens), while another store stocked digital-only blockchain-connected pieces, wearable in hundreds of virtual communities. Merely exchanging a physical good for cash is officially a thing of the past. It’s important for brands to think through how to bridge physical and digital properties to create the next iteration of retail experiences. If you'd like to discuss how we partner with timeless luxury brands to provide brand strategy, digital experience design and innovation consultancy, please get in touch via hello@matterofform.com to arrange a time to speak with our team of consultants about ourservices. Selfridges' co-creation project Universe at The Corner Shop aims to deliver the company mission of “reinventing retail”, with a fusion of art, fashion and virtual reality. Oh, and NFTs, of course.

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Selfridges and the Push to Reinvent Retail