Selfridges, Kith celebrate Spider-Man birthday, store also looks to future with new exhibition

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 20, 2022

Selfridges is having a busy July with the department stores giant having launched a number of pop-ups, as well as a major exhibition. Prominent among the former is the new Spider-Man 60th anniversary pop-up in a deal with Marvel and Kith, which has produced a commemorative collection.

It features a range inspired by the archive of one of the most popular superheroes over the last six decades. Kith and Marvel have also opened a pop-up for the collection in Queens, New York, and is carrying the products in most of its stores.

At Selfridges, there’s a special installation featuring 60 years of archival artwork, plus the adults’ and kids’ clothing collection that documents the character’s evolution, as well as accessories like skateboard decks, posters and hats. The clothing takes in pieces such as intarsia knit sweaters, hoodies, and vintage washed T-shirts.

There’s also a special edition comic book with an original storyline and previews of Kith products.

The pop-up is on the men’s floor in the London flagship.

But Selfridges isn’t only looking backwards as it has also opened a Superfutures: Visions For The Future exhibition. 

It said the exhibition “helps us stretch our imagination to its limits to explore what the future might hold. How might we live? What might we look like? How will we behave? And what might it feel like?”

It’s worked with “artists, thinkers and brands who paint a picture of a hybrid, fluid future. A world where opposites attract”.

Guest curator Agnes Gryczkowska said: “Boundaries between human and machine, organic and crafted, nature and culture, physical and virtual, young and old are blurred. Established ideals of beauty and body are challenged, and bygone ways of producing, consuming and fuelling are pulled into question.”

An example of what’s on show is eyewear brand Gentle Monster’s The Giant. This is a large, kinetic object that gives viewers “an uncanny experience through hyperrealistic movements and expressions. Standing at nine-feet tall, the pale face feels as if it has a living ego, and forces viewers to confront the marginal gap between dream and reality”.

The exhibition runs until 16 October.