Hot 50: SELFRIDGES

Last year was fortuitous for the iconic 109 Pantone yellow, as Selfridges celebrated its centenary year on the 15 March. Throughout the year collaborations took place with an array of designers, including Giles Deacon’s made-to-order striking dress and Marc Jacobs’ yellow makeover of the Stam bag.

The store’s 100th birthday exploded on to London’s Oxford Street in a blaze of yellow with events in May, including the Big Yellow music festival with performances from Patrick Wolf and Ebony Bones, as well as fashion shows from PPQ and Henry Holland.

Selfridges is a pioneer in the design of window displays and, for its birthday, its inhouse team recreated famous displays from past decades. Selfridges also commissioned designers such as Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood to create special carrier bags.

It ran exhibitions such as Pandamonium, with the likes of Jason Bruges, Tom Dixon and Sir Peter Blake turning World Wildlife Fund panda collecting boxes into multimedia artworks.

The designers used Sir Peter Scott’s 1960s panda logo for the WWF as an emblem to help tackle climate change.