The world's first fully integrated bodywear department opens at Selfridges London

The Body Studio – the largest department ever opened by the iconic London store, is a new holistic fashion and accessories destination created for women to promote and celebrate mind and body wellness. It showcases, for the first time in a single retail space, all bodywear categories from lingerie to athleisure and a unique customer service proposition.

Today, Monday 4 April, Selfridges has unveiled a world’s first: a unique concept space presenting over 150 brands and more than 30,000 different styles edited together to revolutionise the way women shop for bodywear. The Body Studio will occupy a new 37,000 square-foot department – the largest retail space ever opened by Selfridges in its 107 year history. The new space is bigger than the store’s famous Shoe Galleries, which made headlines around the world when it opened in 2010, then showcasing the largest collection of shoes available anywhere. With the launch of the Body Studio, Selfridges is responding to the still untapped demand by women for a more sophisticated, dynamic and exciting way to shop underwear and related bodywear categories.

Selfridges’ approach to creating the Body Studio was purposefully holistic and began by reviewing the relationship between women, the way they were shopping – especially for bodywear, and their body image. Other key factors were taken on board, especially the concept of mind and body wellness and the sustained growth across the entire active and leisure markets - from clothing to wearable technology, all boosted by consumers' greater-than-ever appetite for healthier lifestyles. (editor's notes 1-4).  

With Selfridges’ nightwear business booming +300% to £2m from 2009 to 2015 (with further expected growth of 74% within a year) and its own research showing that over 80% of women still routinely buy wrong bra sizes – there’s never been a better opportunity to rethink the whole bodywear retail experience. Selfridges is now forecasting growth from the Body Studio of over 60% by 2018.

The Body Studio is the first manifestation of the £300m investment Selfridges has pledged to transform the Eastern side of its London store on Duke Street.

The Body Studio concept - A one stop-shop with ground-breaking customer service 
The Concept: At the core of the Body Studio concept is the unique merger of all clothing categories designed to be worn directly on the skin. Still anchored by the underwear and lingerie categories, bodywear at Selfridges expands like never before to become a totally integrated display of collections created for the comfort, well-being and the celebration of the beauty of womens’ bodies.

All-in-one: For the first time within the same space, women will be able to seamlessly shop lingerie, hosiery, sleepwear, loungewear, swimwear, holidaywear, athleisure and sportswear collections whilst benefiting from state-of-the-art private changing rooms with three-way “total vision” mirrors (including a “bum mirror”) and a new “zero-tape” best-in-class expert customer service delivered by over 100 dedicated Body Studio consultants. With “zero-tape” measurement, consultants accurately assess a woman’s body measurements by the eye only.

Personal Shopping at the Fit Studio: As part of the ground-breaking customer service, Selfridges will launch the Fit Studio, the world's first personal shopping service dedicated to lingerie within a department store.  Customers will be able to pre-book appointments lasting up to one hour with one of ten Fit Experts to find perfectly fitting underwear within the surroundings of spacious high-spec fitting rooms designed and lit especially to improve the effectiveness of the experience.

The Body Studio - A unique brand mix
Dozens of exclusive brands and world-first collection launches will make up part of the Body Studio’s all-encompassing product edit across the full bodywear spectrum. New to market brands include Three Graces, For Love and Lemons, Rae Feather, The Upside. Brands exclusive to Selfridges include Adina Reay, Coco de Mer, Fleur du Mal, Pour les Femmes whilst heavy-weights such as Adidas, Puma, Wolford, La Perla and Agent Provocateur are all contributing special product edits and bespoke customer experiences within the Body Studio.

A ‘knicker bar’ will invite customers to pick and mix their underwear, and is forecast to retail 33,000 pairs of knickers in the first year. Along with Selfridges’ famously democratic approach to product mix and pricing – the Body Studio will offer items from £5 to £2,500 – the new bodywear space will cater to an increased range of sizes to accommodate the requirements of more body types than ever before.

The Body Studio - Beautiful inside and out
The Body Studio's fully integrated approach applies not only to its product offer but also to the range of its services. Further responding to the holistic nature of the space, inclusive of the notion of wellness, the Body Studio will feature two new retail concepts, one by the Hemsley sisters, the other by celebrity hairdresser Daniel Galvin. Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley will bring their inimitable “wellness begins from within” feel-good philosophy to their first café concept. Hemsley + Hemsley at Selfridges will offer a seasonal all-day menu curated by the sisters for an eating experience that’s balanced, nutritious and delicious. Daniel Galvin's first retail partnership will bring a new and exclusive Cuts For Curls menu developed by James Galvin with Kérastase. The salon will provide full service styling, cut, colour and treatments at twenty eight stations, two beauty rooms and a private VIP room.
 
EveryBODY - The Body Studio live campaign (from 11 April to early June)
To mark the opening of the Body Studio, Selfridges will launch EveryBODY, a multi-faceted campaign that will celebrate the beauty and strength of the body and promote the discussion of the hottest topics within the ever growing mind and body wellness conversation. ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ approach underpins the agenda at the core of the EveryBODY campaign programme starting with the transformation of Selfridges' dedicated 3,500 sq ft special events space, the Ultralounge, into a work-out studio.

BodyWork – Selfridges says work out!
The Ultralounge becomes BodyWork to welcome two main residencies. A six-week takeover by high intensity London spin class studio Psycle and a special two-week pop-up by new London yoga gurus Yung Club presenting their special blend of sun salutations in an immersive yoga, light and sound experience within the confines of a specially constructed "womb" within BodyWork.

BodyTalk – What’s new in wellness?
Running in parallel with EveryBODY's group class schedule at BodyWork, customers will be able to take part in BodyTalk, a schedule of talks, staged at the Hemsley + Hemsley café in the Body Studio and across the London store. BodyTalk will be curated partly by Suzanne Duckett whose digital platform thisistheantidote.com is fast becoming a reference in the world of health and beauty; and by The Pool lifestyle site founded by Lauren Laverne and Sam Baker. Guests to the talks, extensively debating wellness, will be as diverse as spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, Royal ballet dancer Lauren Cuthbertson, psychotherapist and writer Susie Orbach.

EveryBODY by Wayne McGregor
A powerful print and digital advertising campaign shot by photographer Norbert Schoerner will support EveryBODY. Choreographed by multi-award winning British choreographer and director Wayne Mc Gregor, the campaign features non-professional models representing the ‘every-woman’ via a broad selection of shapes, sizes and ethnicities. The use of a choreographer - especially of McGregor’s stature – reinforces the aim of the advertising campaign to present an arresting and unexpected neoclassical way to demonstrate the beauty of the female body whatever its shape. This is the choreographer’s first foray into advertising. Wayne Mc Gregor will also curate a series of impromptu dance performances by female choreographers to take place, unannounced, on the shop floor of the London store.

More EveryBODY

• Selfridges has also commissioned a new short film from director Katherine Ferguson especially for EveryBODY which will look at the relationship women have with their bodywear.  The film will feature personalities such as fashion muse Michele Lamy.
• Additional elements in the campaign include a number of exclusive products such as limited editions yoga and long-life water bottles created by designers such as Henry Holland, Y3 and Bape.
• Selfridges EveryBODY campaign will also be brought to life in the brand’s regional stores in Manchester and Birmingham.
• Customers will be able to access more information, special features and exclusive content at www.selfridges.com/bodystudio