The women’s Designer Galleries East at Selfridges on Oxford Street is open for business. John Ryan visits and gets a taste of luxury.

Selfridges, Women’s Designer Galleries East

  • Size 25,000 sq ft
  • Opened March 2012
  • Cost Around £10m
  • Designed by Jamie Fobert
  • Commercial intent “To double turnover from the space”

Eighteen months ago Selfridges was the toast of the fashion press when it unveiled the long-awaited Shoe Galleries. At one fell swoop the second floor of the Oxford Street flagship became home to the world’s largest shoe department - almost double that of its nearest rival, Saks on New York’s Fifth Avenue. A shade over £10m was spent on the creation of that space and Canadian architect Jamie Fobert was responsible for the transformation.

Last month, the latest piece in the jigsaw that is the overall refurbishment of the second floor was revealed - to rather less fanfare than the Shoe Galleries. The new area is the Designer Galleries East and it is in fact every bit as significant as the Shoe Galleries in terms of investment. Like the latter, this 25,000 sq ft space has cost around £10m - the difference being that it is roughly 10,000 sq ft smaller than the shoe department.

In part this is because this is a far less democratic department than the Shoe Galleries, which houses everything from Havaianas flip-flops to Prada or pairs of Jimmy Choos. The Designer Galleries East, which represents around a third of the non-footwear space on the second floor is a “premium” room, as it is described by Selfridges spokesman Bruno Barba.

Translated, this means that while Prada and Alexander McQueen both have space in the department, less upscale brands do not make the cut and both the amount of space given to each brand and the use made of it reflect this. There are in fact 19 brands on the floor, eight of which have their own space around the perimeter, while the rest are on a mid-shop mat.

The first thing that the visitor to the floor is likely to notice, however, is the ceiling. This is higher than the rest of the women’s areas on the floor and is the result of peeling back the suspended ceiling that has been in place since the 1960s. The outcome is that the neo-classical capitals surmounting the pillars dotted around the floor are now visible and there is a real sense of additional space.

The light, airy feeling is reinforced by daylight. As part of the refurbishment, external windows, hidden behind perimeter panelling, have been uncovered, allowing the predominantly white box feel of the department to be more obvious.

Designer delights

Then there is the floor. As a “premium” space, the use of materials is very different from the Shoe Galleries.

In the latter, wood plays a major part, with the long back room being carpeted. No such compromise is evident in the new space, which features marble throughout. In the normal run of things, this might be relatively straightforward. Head off to the nearest (and probably most cost-effective) marble quarry or supplier and place an order sufficient to cover the floor.

For this department, however, each area has been given its own identity with different patterns and marble qualities being deployed. Practically, this means that the floor in the Balenciaga area is different from the Prada shop, which in turn is different from the McQueen space - it’s about giving each of the branded designer areas an identity, while preserving a sense of Selfridges-based integrity for the whole.

In the middle of the floor and at its heart, there is a wall, part of which is composed of translucent studded bricks. Touch these and they flex, which adds interest. The other element of the mid-shop, pieces of designer fantasy notwithstanding is the “salon”, as Selfridges refers to it - that is fitting rooms to anyone else.

There are only two for the 11 mid-shop brands, but when the price of the merchandise is taken into account, there is unlikely to be a queue.

For those in the market for a little number that’s come straight from the catwalk and walk into the mid-shop fitting rooms, however, the reception area is relatively dark (and also features a piece of video art to put shoppers in the mood for hitting the credit card).

Barba says that as much of the merchandise is intended for eveningwear - when customers emerge from the fitting room they are in a space that is like being at a “cocktail party”. And for those that do still feel the urge to see things as they are in daylight, there are two further fitting rooms, each of which is enormous with picture windows and is “like your flat”, according to Barba.

Maybe, although most shoppers will not have walk-in wardrobes with massive mirrors and daylight provided by equally huge windows, but this is the designer department at Selfridges. It is also worth noting that the mid-shop area may have multiple designer ranges, but the collections are, for the most part, displayed on similar bronze-coloured rails that undulate along their length - giving variety to the area and putting a Selfridges imprint upon the department.

Material success

Finally, at the east end of the department, the marble walls appear to be internally lit. They are in fact very thin slices of crystalline marble, with a translucent backing, meaning that daylight can pass through them and allowing the patterning in each slab to be more visible. As the marble elements are around 1cm thick, this is as much about precision engineering as it is concerned with design.

The aim that underpins all of this is to double the turnover from the area, according to Barba, who says that early signs are encouraging. This should act as a spur for an early makeover of the next womenswear part of the floor - the central Designer Gallery - although work on this is not expected to get under way until after the summer Sale.

This piece of work has taken around eight months to complete and Selfridges has continued to trade from the floor throughout the period.

The department store operator continues to invest heavily in remodelling large sections of its Oxford Street flagship, giving shoppers added reasons to make this a central London destination.

And the likelihood is that the newly opened department will be the most expensive refurbishment across any part of the store - in view of the nature of the materials that have been used.

It also blends almost seamlessly with the Shoe Galleries, which until this department opened, functioned almost as a separate shop within the store.

For those with the means, this is one of the more engaging places where you can check out top-end styles in an environment that will make you feel like one of the elite. Selfridges director of womenswear, Sebastian Manes, comments: “The concept for the room evolved in tandem with the selection of these designers in order to offer customers the collections they will love and a place to discover the exciting looks of each season.” Quite so.