Selfridges to Launch Gender Neutral Retail Concept

With androgyny a huge trend on the menswear front this season, retailers are taking note, and none have acted on it quicker than Selfridges. The UK-based retailer is offering customers a gender-neutral shopping experience through its ”Agender” concept. Beginning March 12, Agender will launch as “a fashion exploration of the masculine, the feminine and the interplay…found in between,” aiming to take shoppers “on a journey where they can choose to shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes.” This endeavor will take up the first three floors of Selfridge’s Oxford Street store, with spaces in its Manchester and Birmingham locations as well as online. Interior and furniture designer Faye Toogood was commissioned to design these concept spaces, with Agender carrying Toogood’s ready-to-wear collection exclusively in the UK. Other brands that will be carried include Ann Demeulemeester, Gareth Pugh, Bodymap, Nicopanda among others. To enhance and ensure that the shopping experience is gender-neutral, no mannequins will be used throughout, instead dressing the store completely asexually, and featuring art pieces exploring the concept.