SELFRIDGES

Faye Toogood designed a radical new retail department for Selfridges – Agender. This in-house concept store goes beyond the concepts of androgyny and unisex to question the innate assumptions that still underpin gendered clothing in the 21st century. The space is stripped of all the trappings of merchandising; the garments, include the Selfridges debut of Toogood’s Collection 002, are sold in unbranded bags and archive boxes. This uniform packaging breaks down retail’s artificial divisions, and thereby democratises it; handwritten descriptions serve in place of labels, while a slashed opening at the back gives a glimpse of the clothing within.

The Agender concept store is split into two discrete zones, each conceived as a “house” with genderless and abstracted sculptures positioned around it. These houses emulate familiar domestic structures, but are rendered transparent by the use of a steel-mesh framework in place of bricks.

Photography: Rory van Millingen