Selfridges Explores Beauty’s Boundaries

Prestigious London store Selfridges has announced My Accomplice director Kathryn Ferguson as its Filmmaker in Residence, it has been announced today (Friday 6 June).

Her brief was to write and create a short film series highlighting the broad spectrum of modern beauty as part of Selfridges’ latest campaign, titled The Beauty Project.

The four films run alongside a six week beauty initiative and each one explores a different aspect of modern beauty. All are shot in a documentary style an avoid focussing on products. 

A preview screening of the films took place at Selfridges on 2 June and all four are being shown throughout Selfridges’ stores and online, it is hoped that they will spark discussion and support the campaign which explores the boundaries of beauty with talks, debates and experiences.

“This was a dream brief. It was wonderful to be able to create a series that challenged the notion of modern day beauty and highlighted the stories of real people via such a public platform,” says Ferguson.

“Selfridges once again proved to be a fantastically open and responsive client and together I feel that we have made a body of work to be proud of.”

The four films are: Change is a beautiful thing which explains how older women view beauty; Beauty I see you everywhere which provides regional views on beauty across the UK, In every Person, a Universe which explores the illusion of static self; and A Return to Hair which looks at the personal stories behind people with natural afro hair.

Anna Cleaver, of Selfridges’ creative team, says: “We have collaborated with Kathryn in the past and knew that she could help us create something that had a legacy beyond the project to reach as wide an audience as possible. She has made four thoughtful and celebratory films that pose questions around the subjective definitions of beauty and show the significance of this many layered subject to a huge variety of people. We're thrilled with the series, and the response so far, with a million views and counting, shows the importance of continuing this conversation.”

The films are all hosted on the Selfridges Beauty project microsite alongside more information on the campaign.