Chinese studio Neri&Hu has designed the biggest-ever retail department at London department store Selfridges, dedicated to women's underwear, sleepwear and sportswear (+ slideshow).

The Body Studio encompasses over 3,400 square metres ? Selfridges' largest-ever department ? and brings together all fashion categories designed for the body, including underwear, lingerie, sleepwear, loungewear, sportswear and athletic leisurewear.

It offers fitting and personal-shopping services, as well as a beauty salon and a cafe.

Neri&Hu, which has offices in London and Shanghai, was tasked with overhauling the area within the 1909 building in what Selfridges describes as the world's most ambitious architectural transformation of a heritage department store.
Founders Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu combined Japanese and Californian design references for their concept, aiming to create an environment that was neither too sexy nor too boring.

"These kinds of spaces are often designed in two extreme spectrums," said Neri. "One being the over-rich, luxurious, boudoir-type aesthetic; and, at the opposite end, a strategy of a very utilitarian, almost undesigned, storage-like display is used."

"We wanted to transform what was a low space into a sanctum for the merchandise that is presented there and for the women who shop the space," he added.

Although presented as one department, the different types of clothing are displayed in their own spaces.

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