Discover the meaning of luxury at Selfridges

Love London

Selfridges has this weekend opened a new free-of-charge exhibition about the meaning of luxury in today’s world.

Running to 20 May, the exhibition, called the Flipside, was created by esteemed stage designer Chiara Stephenson who is mostly recognised for her work at London’s Donmar Warehouse and her work in association with award-winning stage designer Es Devlin.

The exhibition is set within 32,000 sqft of the vast Old Selfridges hotel, a disused property owned by Selfridges and built next to the London store’s Food Hall on Orchard Street.

The Flipside is a multi-sensory exhibition which invites the visitor to take a thought-provoking journey through seven installations co-curated by brands such as Gareth Pugh, Louis Vuitton, Thom Browne and Byredo. Each installation creatively expresses each contributing brand’s unique vision of the meaning of luxury today or in the future.

Some interpretations verge on the dystopian, others are more escapist, all centre on meaningful themes such as freedom, overconsumption, the passing of time, water pollution and the power of dreams. Some installations are interactive, but all use a variety of medium – including film - and materiality to communicate their message. The purpose of the exhibition is to make each visitor reflect on what luxury means to them in a world where anything can be associated with luxury, from a mouthwash to a loaf of bread, making the word lose its identity and potency.

To accompany the opening of the Flipside, Selfridges will be hosting a series of special events within the space, including contemporary dance performances by London’s Rambert – commissioned especially for this exhibition – and panel talks on the meaning of luxury.

The brands featured in the Flipside are Google Pixel 2, Loewe, Mr Lyan, Thom Browne, Gareth Pugh, Louis Vuitton and Byredo.

The Flipside is part of Radical Luxury, a major thought-leadership campaign launched by Selfridges in January this year which seeks to question the nature and meaning of luxury in a world where its essence is dramatically changing.
The campaign includes multiple creative elements customers have been able to take part in and experience starting in January with the launch of Lamyland an unexpected look at boxing through a luxury lense. Radical Luxury also includes Selfridges’ biggest advertising campaign to date and its first made-for-cinema film ad co-created with German photographer and director Norbert Schoerner. The film ad is live in cinemas across London, Birmingham and Manchester until the summer.

The Flipside is a free exhibition open to all and tickets can be booked now at www.selfridges.com/flipside

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Opening hours:
Monday - Closed
Tuesday - Friday 12pm - 8pm
Saturday -10am - 8pm
Sunday -12pm - 6pm

Posted Date
Apr 29, 2018 in Love London by Laurel