Selfridges starts Christmas countdown with festive windows

Selfridges started its countdown to Christmas today by unveiling its festive windows

Tomorrow marks two months until Christmas Eve but the Oxford Street department store is urging customers to get going with their preparations.

Under the theme “storytelling”, the windows tell 25 different stories including Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Hansel and Gretel - but all with a contemporary twist.

One window features a real Mini cut in half and another shows a golden web, supposedly spun by Rumplestiltskin, and there is a window dedicated to Paddington bear with a golden replica of a black cab.

Selfridges said the themed windows have been a year-and-a-half in the making and a team of 200 people have been working on them day and night for the last eight days.

Around 10,000 leaves were laser cut to create the foliage in the windows and it took 200 metres of gold thread to form Rumplestiltskin’s web.