You usually tuck in your wardrobe with favorite Miss Selfridge designs, but are you really a Miss S. lover and have you known all the secrets about it.
Harry Gordon Selfridge – founder of the famous successful Selfridges empire in the UK in the 1900s. He left a great legacy when the American tycoon is believed to be the inventor of retail therapy. Yet, that is not all about him, since Miss Selfridge is all about countless interesting things.
1. Difficult boss
Every evening, Mr Selfridge used to tour the store and inspect every department. If he saw someone with a hair out of place he’d tell the ‘floor walkers’, who were in charge of each department, and you’d be in trouble!
Jeremy Piven as Harry Gordon Selfridge in the PBS series “Mr. Selfridge.”
2. TV series ‘Mr. Selfridge’
The great inspiration about the last-century tycoon has triggered filmmakers into action. The TV series ‘Mr. Selfridge’ has four seasons aired from 2013 – 2016, capturing the colorful business life of Selfridge and his family. Thanks to Jeremy Piven’s perfect performance, ‘Mr. Selfridge’ is well-recognized by audiences and film-critics when the series was classified as one of American masterpiece film.
3. Size matters
Selfridge was the last of London’s best-known department stores to be built — and is the only one that was purpose built. Others were adapted and extended from previously existing buildings. It’s currently the second largest retail space in the UK, after Harrods.
Crowds gather to watch a Selfridges window dresser in the early 1940s
4. The rooftop
The Selfridges’ summer rooftop is now an annual fixture, but did you know that it was closed for over 70 years?
In the store’s early days, many forms of entertainment took place in the roof gardens, where can serve up to thousands people. However, in the second world war, the store was bombed, with most of the damage done to the rooftop.
The rooftop remained closed until 2009, when Michelin-starred French chef Pierre Koffmann came out of retirement to run a pop-up restaurant overlooking Oxford Street. Since then it has hosted many pop-ups, including restaurants, bars, crazy golf and a boating lake.
5. Miss Selfridge
Selfridges opened the first Miss Selfridge inside the main store in the 1960s in an attempt to attract a younger, more fashion-led clientele. It had its own entrance in Duke Street.
Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, London with history of over 100 years.
6. Cooperate with famous models
Miss Selfridge was one of the first retailers to use Kate Moss in their campaigns plus other famous models and actresses such as Yasmin Le Bon, Nicollette Sheridan, Naomi Campbell, Yasmin le Bon, Tess Daly and Saffron Burrows.
Kate Moss in a photo shooting for Miss Selfridge’s collection
7. Mannequins Twiggy
The first of Miss Selfridge’s mannequins were based on sixties icon and model Lesley Lawson, or widely known as Twiggy.
8. Paper dresses
The first dresses were paper dresses designed to be worn once and then thrown away, by Sylvia Ayton and Zandra Rhodes.
Pierre Cardin designs exclusively for Miss Selfridge
9. Collections with Pierre Cardin
Couturier Pierre Cardin was also commissioned by Miss Selfridge to design four exclusive collections a year.
10. The brand’s name origin
Miss Selfridge got its name when the owner of Selfridges, saw a window display in the Bonwit Teller store in New York which showed “Miss Bonwit” dresses aimed specifically at teenagers.
