For the launch of Jacquemus’s new collection ‘Le Bleu’, Random Studio created a series of installations in Selfridges, London. Some more focused on retail, some less, and one without.
The works seen here are taken from the ‘Porte Cochere’, or ‘Le Vestiare’ - or, more English-ly, the “changing rooms”, an area not focused on retail but purely on ‘Experience’. The experience was that of a public swimming pool changing room in Provincial France. As you entered the front of the changing room, surrounded by a dilapidated 60’s parking garage/extension to the back of Selfridges, you were presented with an overwhelmingly blue room, one tone throughout the entire space, and a scent that conjured the hot summers of the South of France.
From the distance you could hear people playing, splashing, shouting and screaming. Walking past the reception desk, you were situated between changing cabins, inside of each you could see movement, hear noises of different people inside. Some people having a phone call, some blowing up arm bands nervously, some showering with steam pouring out the top. Certain cabins had twists, the first cabins floor was completely filled with fans, and upon using the hair dryer a huge gust blew from beneath. The third cabin was just a series of cabins, getting smaller and smaller until a mini-bag was found at the centre. The final cabin contained an angry Simone Jacquemus, who would snap the door closed, shout at you and throw his towel over the top whenever you tried to enter... Finally at the rear, screens obscured behind glass gave the feeling of people moving through the space.
The end effect was something like walking through a movie set, one that you could actively participate in and be an extra in. It is part of a new genre or typology of spatial design, the ‘Experience’ space - perhaps more akin to theatre design than to traditional spacial design. Experience spaces are often very temporary, lasting a month or less, they are often ‘multi-sensory’, or at the very least extremely tactile, and there is an emphasis on them being photogenic, specifically does it work well with the front facing camera of a smartphone (spacial design led by the physical limitations of the wide angle lenses of a camera is a real thing).
This space and others like it has been labelled ‘Hyper Physical’ – “Hyperphysical retail at its simplest is multi-sensory. It leans into the five senses of sight, sound, touch and potentially even smell and taste. That essentially captures what it means to be human,” says Jacqueline Windsor, UK retail leader at PwC and a partner in the Strategy & Deals team. “These pop-ups are a manifestation of that and are in response to the other side of the coin, which is digital and the rise of the metaverse, a parallel universe where consumers can increasingly socialise, work, shop and play.” - Vogue Business
While I’m not sure the smell of chlorine mixed with the sound of splashing water distills what it means to be human, this idea that these spaces are a celebration of returning to the physical from years of being in the digital resonates, but presents an interesting quandary when married with the fact that their purpose is to generate hype online. Rather than traditional advertising, paid adds and sponsor segments on instagram, having influencers and devout followers of the brand come and share their experiences is often a more effective way to get attention. These hyper physical spaces are really truly meant to belong online.
It’s an interesting thing when something you work on becomes an example of a movement, or a change in the way things are done, in this instance we weren't aiming to create a 'hyper-physical' space. For the team, it was a great opportunity to be given such a big platform to play, to come up with fun ideas, interesting designs, moments that excited people and made them laugh, to work at a scale that we never had before, to push the boundaries of ‘interactivity’. For myself, I was deeply inspired by Jacques Tati, the way that he captured the mundanity of the everyday, the hilarity and nonsensicality of modernity, and tried to capture the essence of his humour in the writing for the different cabins, through the arrangement of the space, the overwhelming simplicity. It was a chance in earnest to write a film, or a scene in a film, that anyone could act in.
Theres a brilliant documentary of Jacques Tati where he talks about his experience working at a theatre in London, where everybody is dressed up, ready to be funny for a rehearsal at 7am sharp, and how inevitably deeply unfunny that rehearsal was. On his break, he walked out and through a market and found himself laughing at the butchers, green grocers, the people all around him just living their lives and the awkward, human situations that stemmed from them, remarking how they were funnier to him then anything planned. Talking about his film ‘Playtime’, he spoke about how, during a lunch break, he had the carpenters change the width of a serving hatch to be just small enough that tray the actor playing the waiter had rehearsed with no longer fit through the hatch. In the taping later, and in the final shot, you can see the actor completely stumped, unable to take the tray through, and the real confusion and desperation that ensued. In that way, I like to think that Jacques Tati would have loved this format of experience storytelling.
Shout out to Cosima Antoine who shared the leading of the project with me, a brilliant spacial designer and creative, and to producer Rachael Short, without who there would be no project, one of the most devoted and caring colleagues I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.
Please see random.studio’s page for more documentation.
For: Jacquemus, Selfridges
Role: Creative Lead
With: Cosima Antoine (Spatial Lead), Rachael Short (Producer), Morgan Maccari (Creative Direction), Ralph Kok (Technical Lead), Philip Ghering (Creative Technologist), Fanny Dora (Spatial Designer), Karina Golubenko (Graphic Design), Lucas De Ruiter (3D Creative), Sytze Van Der Wolk (Creative), Sasha Gudkova (3D Artist), Souvenir Scenic Studios (Le Vestiaire + Corner Shop), MDM Props (24/24), In’n’out Fragrance (Fragrance design)
