Selfridges reaches for the stars with mystical Christmas
Selfridges has unveiled its Christmas windows and launched its full Christmas scheme with a theme inspired by constellation and astrology called Journey to the Stars.
Using the symbolic Christmas star as initial inspiration, the scheme was over a year in development with the London window displays alone taking over 500 people to set up and the in-store decorations over 30,000 hours to install.
Some 12 windows on Oxford Street feature the 12 signs of the zodiac with each window referencing the relevant planets influencing the zodiac signs.
The London store’s largest window is triple-sided, at the corner of Oxford Street and Orchard Street, and showcases a giant, fully rotating orrery of the solar system made to scale with help from Greenwich Observatory.
As well as window displays and in-store decorations, the London store is creating special customer experiences including the opening of a psychic and mystical adult grotto called the Astrolounge on the lower ground floor. This will offer psychic readings, a psychic school, mystic workshops, and birth chart tee-shirts, and there will also be hundreds of exclusive zodiac and constellation-themed products available online and in-store.
Selfridges said this Christmas will be all about personalisation with items such as a world exclusive personalised Mini Moet, personalised Nutella and personalised gift wrapping paper on offer as well as bespoke scent collections by Margate-based fragrance expert Haeckel’s.
Journey to the Stars continues at Selfridges.com where customers can ‘shop by star sign’ to find the gifts recommended for their zodiacal character traits or that of their family and friends. Customers can also book Elfridges, Selfridges’ free gift-list personal shoppers, from their smartphones or tablets.
Linda Hewson said: “We are very excited about our festive Journey to the Stars theme this year which has allowed us to creatively explore the realm of constellation and astrology. They are timeless and relentlessly fascinating to so many people.
“Above all the theme gave us the opportunity to design startling displays, in-store experiences and product collaborations full of sparkle, stardust and fun. We are sure our customers will love how we brought it all to life in our windows and in-store.”
