How Selfridges Found the Perfect First-Ever Christmas Partner in Disney

As is tradition, as soon as November hit, London began putting on its Christmas cloak. Starting with the West End lights and culminating in the Trafalgar Square tree, the city’s landmarks are one by one coming to life throughout the month. Today is Selfridges’s turn.

Christmas is so important at the iconic British department store that its creative teams usually start working on the year’s theme some time in April (I know, because I worked there between 2022 and 2023). This year, for the first time, the retailer is taking on a brand collaborator: Disney.

For the next two months, the windows of Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham will be covered in Disney animations, while carrying bespoke products created in partnership between Selfridges, Disney and over 70 brand partners. The yellow bag will also be transformed for the first time since the store celebrated its centenary in 2009, while the London store’s façade will be the site of a light show – the biggest installation to feature on the store for over 50 years.

It’s quite a departure for a retailer that is famously loath to give up creative control. I spoke to Will Wyness, who after 12 years at various jobs within the creative department at Selfridges was recently promoted to creative director, and Sonia Samra, vice president of fashion and home at Disney, about the partnership.

Vogue: This is really exciting Will, it’s your first Christmas as creative director! And you’ve gone about it in a big way, enlisting Disney. Did you feel pressure to make your first Christmas big?

Will: It feels different. It’s a whole new way of working, and I got to do it with the best collaborators. There’s definitely a pressure in today’s world to figure out how to cut through the noise. There was a report out that says the average 18-year-old sees 10,000 marketing messages a day, which is really terrifying me and the team. We want to do things that genuinely, emotionally resonate with people.

In our office, many people are big fans of Disney. It’s been a big part of everyone’s life. We wanted to have a conversation where our worlds meet each other. I think you can see that across every layer of this partnership — from product through to the kind of overarching storytelling and marketing.

Will Wyness, creative director at Selfridges.

Photo: Courtesy of Selfridges