Miss Selfridge is a British

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

brand and former high street store chain which began as the young fashion section of

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

department store in London in 1966. It was part of the

Arcadia Group Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BH ...

, controlled by Sir

Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of Ma ...

, which went into administration in late 2020. The Miss Selfridge brand was purchased by

ASOS ASOS or Asos may refer to: * Asos, a village in Greece * ASOS (retailer), a UK online fashion store * Association Sportive Oussou Saka, a Beninese football team * Automated Surface Observing System, a type of weather station * Air Support Operatio ...

on 1 February 2021 and now operates exclusively online.

History

Miss Selfridge got its name when

Charles Clore Sir Charles Clore (26 December 1904 – 26 July 1979) was a British financier, retail and property magnate, and philanthropist. Life and career Clore was of Lithuanian Jewish background, the son of Israel Clore, a Whitechapel tailor who had emi ...

, the owner of Selfridges at the time, saw a window display in the

Bonwit Teller Bonwit Teller & Co. was an American luxury department store in New York City, New York, founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, and later a chain of department stores. In 1897, Edmund D. Teller was admitted to the p ...

store in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

which showed "Miss Bonwit" dresses aimed specifically at teenagers. He later launched it throughout his

Lewis's Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...

and Selfridges stores throughout the UK. By 1967 Miss Selfridge had concessions throughout the country within department stores, and by 1969 there were some independent branches on the high street. The first of Miss Selfridge's

mannequins A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. Pr ...

were based on 1960s icon and model

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

, and the first dresses were paper dresses designed to be worn once and then thrown away, by Sylvia Ayton and

Zandra Rhodes Dame Zandra Lindsey Rhodes, (born 19 September 1940), is an English fashion and textile designer. Her early education in fashion set the foundation for a career in the industry creating textile prints. Rhodes has designed garments for Diana, ...

. Couturier

Pierre Cardin Pierre Cardin (, , ), born Pietro Costante Cardino (2 July 1922 – 29 December 2020), was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometric shap ...

was also commissioned by Miss Selfridge to design four exclusive collections a year.

Change of ownership

In July 1999,

acquired Miss Selfridge, along with Wallis and clothing retailer Outfit, from

Sears plc Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999. History The business was founded by John and Willi ...

. In 2002 Philip Green took over the Arcadia group. Miss Selfridge started his own online shop in 2003. Іn the following years, Miss Selfridge was sometimes negative or positively in the group balance.

Administration

Arcadia Group went into administration at 8pm GMT on 30 November 2020. On 25 January 2021,

said it was in "exclusive" talks to buy Arcadia's Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands out of administration, though it only wanted the brands, not the shops. A consortium including

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

had earlier dropped a bid to buy Topshop and Topman; interest in Arcadia operations had also been expressed by Mike Ashley's

Frasers Group Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pr ...

, a consortium including online retailer

Boohoo Boo hoo may refer to the sound of someone crying. Boo hoo may also refer to: * ''Boo Hoo'', a 2002 album by musician Voltaire * "Boo-Hoo", a 1937 hit song recorded by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians * Boo Hoo the Bear, the mascot of Queen's ...

. On 1 February 2021, ASOS announced it had acquired the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands out of administration for £265 million, paying an additional £65 million for current and pre-ordered stock. ASOS will keep 300 employees on as part of the deal but will not keep any of the brand's 70 stores, putting 2,500 jobs at risk. They plan to relaunch in May 2021

Advertising and promotion

The first Miss Selfridge's mannequins were inspired on sixties icon and model

, and the first dresses were paper dresses, they were worn once and then thrown away, by Sylvia Ayton and

. Couturier Pierre Cardin was commissioned by Miss Selfridge to design four exclusive collections. Miss Selfridge was one of the first retailers to use

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

in their campaigns and has used other successful models and actresses such as

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

Yasmin le Bon Yasmin Le Bon (née Parvaneh; born 29 October 1964) is an English model. She was one of the highest-earning models during the 1980s and is also known for being the wife of pop star Simon Le Bon. Early life Yasmin Parvaneh was born in Oxford, E ...

Tess Daly Helen Elizabeth "Tess" Daly (born 29 March 1969) is an English model and television presenter who co-presented the BBC One celebrity dancing show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2004 to 2013; she has been the show's main presenter since 2014. ...

Saffron Burrows Saffron Domini Burrows (born 22 October 1972) is an English actress and model who has appeared in films such as '' Circle of Friends,'' ''Wing Commander,'' '' Deep Blue Sea,'' ''Gangster No. 1,'' ''Enigma,'' ''Troy,'' ''Reign Over Me'' and ''The ...

and

Nicollette Sheridan Nicollette Sheridan (born 21 November 1963) is an English-born American actress. She began her career as a fashion model before landing a role in the short-lived ABC primetime soap opera ''Paper Dolls'' in 1984, as well as starring in the roman ...

before they found major success. In 2006, to celebrate its 40th year of business, Miss Selfridge relaunched limited edition make up palettes containing some of the most successful products from the "Kiss and Make Up" make up range, which is now discontinued. A collaboration with

Bella Freud Isobel Lucia Freud (born 17 April 1961), better known as Bella Freud, is a London-based fashion designer. Life and career Freud was born in London, England. She is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and artist Lucian Freud, and the great-gra ...

in 2005 was short-lived. Miss Selfridge also sponsored the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's 1960s fashion exhibition from 6 June 2006 - 25 February 2007. In April 2010, Miss Selfridge launched the

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

Collection in which they had worked with

Eric Daman Eric Daman is a costume designer, fashion model, television personality, and author from New York City. Known for costume design and fashion styling on the American television series ''Sex and the City'' and ''Gossip Girl'' as well as designs for ...

, the stylist of the show

, to create a line of 8 dresses based on the four main female characters.

Stores

In 2001, Miss Selfridge opened a new flagship store in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

neighbouring

Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS (r ...

Oxford Circus Oxford Circus is a road junction connecting Oxford Street and Regent Street in the West End of London. It is also the entrance to Oxford Circus tube station. The junction opened in 1819 as part of the Regent Street development under John Nash, ...

megastore (located in the former flagship store of the Peter Robinson department store chain, which was also the original location which sold Topshop-branded clothing in London). In 2019, this location was closed, with Miss Selfridge relocated into the main Topshop store, and the space rented to

Vans Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the comp ...

as a London flagship store.

References

External links

* {{Arcadia Group 1966 establishments in England 2021 mergers and acquisitions 2021 disestablishments in England Companies based in London Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies disestablished in 2021 Retail companies established in 1966 Selfridges Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020