Selfridge’s 2019 Christmas windows are futuristic and even Santa is metalic

SAM October 17, 2019

Cinderella's ball gown in the Selfrdige's Christmas window — Cinderella’s ball gown (Picture: Matt Writtle)

There are few things that signal Christmas is nigh: the Coca-Cola advert on the telly, mince pies in the office/home, and stores getting all the tinsel out

And none do it like Selfridges.

The department store goes all out every year during the festive period as keen shoppers await the spectacular displays in the windows.

But the wait is over for this year as Selfridges has just unveiled its Christmas 2019 views and it’s looking very futuristic.

‘Future Fantasy: A Christmas For Modern Times’ is the theme across all its store windows in London, Birmingham, Manchester and even online.

Gone are the days of the red Santa Claus we know and love because Selfridges has given the old man a makeover.

He is now a metallic silver.

Each window is either a symbolic representation of a well-known fairytale (or an element from them), but reimagined in a new way.

You can expect to journey into the Enchanted Forest, meet Rapunzel, the Princess and the Pea, and marvel at Jack and the Beanstalk.

Santa Claus wearing silver — Santa’s got a brand new look (Picture: Matt Writtle)

Also included in the windows are forest creatures, Goldilocks, a magic doorway, wardrobe, and mirror.

Selfridges hopes to usher in ‘the next generation Christmas’ – an interplay of old and new.

But there was a lot of work behind each window – at the London store alone, it has taken a multi-specialist team of over 500 hours to plan the display over the past year

More than 100 people put together the windows, working non-stop rotated shifts for the past 10 days.

What goes into Selfridges windows

Over 85,000 Christmas baubles, with many reused from existing displays
Snow globes across all stores each contain over 40kg of biodegradable confetti
13,000 paper decorations hung across the stores’ ceilings
A giant 1.5 tonne, 13 meter-high mirrored Christmas tree hangs in the Oxford Street store’s central atrium – it will come alive through a dazzling lighting show projected on its surface
Over 100 metres electric cabling was used to install the handrail atrium decoration framing the giant Christmas tree
5km of handrail garland installed around the store
Over 100 bespoke mirrored Christmas trees in London alone
Over 15,000 metres of LED lights decorate the dense spruce foliage and handrails inside and outside the London store

So get your cameras out, it’s going to be pretty Instagram worthy.