Selfridges becomes the first retailer to sell a range of dresses in ‘NFT’ digital form only

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The £100,000 dress you can’t wear! Selfridges will become the world’s first retailer to sell a range of Paco Rabanne’s dresses in so-called ‘NFT’ digital form only

  • Selfridges becomes first retailer to sell clothes at exhibit in digital form only 
  • Customers can buy a range of Paco Rabanne’s dresses as so-called NFTs 
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital tokens of ownership of certain items
  • They have taken world of art by storm and celebs have jumped on bandwagon 

By Jack Wright For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Anyone buying a dress in Selfridges’s latest sale for thousands of pounds might be surprised to learn they can’t wear it even once.

The British luxury department store based in London will become the world’s first retailer to sell a range of dresses by legendary Spanish designer Paco Rabanne in digital form only.

A dozen of Rabanne’s dresses from his ‘unwearable’ collection of the 1960s are to be sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from £2,000 to more than £100,000 as part of a new exhibition at Selfridges’s flagship Oxford Circus store.

Customers will be given a digital certificate of ownership for each outfit, but not the original item. 

A dozen of Paco Rabanne’s dresses from his ‘unwearable’ collection of the 1960s are to be sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from £2,000 to more than £100,000 as part of a new exhibition at Selfridges’s flagship Oxford Circus store

Anyone buying a dress in Selfridges’s latest sale for thousands of pounds might be surprised to learn they can’t wear it even once

Anyone buying a dress in Selfridges’s latest sale for thousands of pounds might be surprised to learn they can’t wear it even once

The British luxury department store based in London will become the world’s first retailer to sell a range of dresses by Rabanne in digital form only

The British luxury department store based in London will become the world’s first retailer to sell a range of dresses by Rabanne in digital form only

Instead, it will be added to their wardrobe in the ‘Metaverse’, a digital world where they can use the NFT to dress an avatar of themselves.

Each of Rabanne’s items will be available as an NFT to 56 customers from January 28, and will go alongside NFTs of rare works by Victor Vasarely, considered by many to the grandfather of optical art.

Buyers will also be given the opportunity to travel to Paris and have a physical fitting for their own replica version of the dress.

In a statement, Selfridges said it would be the first time that NFTs will be available to buy in a store anywhere on the planet.

It comes after the British Museum revealed that it would be selling a rare collection of JMW Turner paintings as NFTs.

Each of Rabanne’s items will be available as an NFT to 56 customers from January 28, and will go alongside NFTs of rare works by Victor Vasarely, considered by many to the grandfather of optical art

Each of Rabanne’s items will be available as an NFT to 56 customers from January 28, and will go alongside NFTs of rare works by Victor Vasarely, considered by many to the grandfather of optical art

Artists and celebrities have jumped on the NFT bandwagon to sell various memorabilia to pieces of work. NFTs have taken the world of art by storm, with auction houses and galleries selling them for up to millions of pounds.

Sebastian Manes, Selfridges’s executive buying and merchandising director, said: ‘As Selfridges looks to the future, we continue to find inspiration in the past.

‘In the case of Victor Vasarely and Paco Rabanne, we have more than fifty years of proposals for the future to explore.

‘I love the idea of bringing Vasarely’s art to a social space like Selfridges – alongside the distinct identity of Paco Rabanne — and using their vision as way to bring emotion, connection and accessibility to the experience.’

What are NFTs? 

What is a NFT?

A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist’s signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece.

What do they look like?

Most NFTs include some kind digital artwork, such as photos, videos, GIFs, and music. Theoretically, anything digital could be turned into a NFT.

Where do you buy them?

At the moment, NFTs are most commonly sold in so-called ‘drops’, timed online sales by blockchain-backed marketplaces like Nifty Gateway, Opensea and Rarible.

Why would I want to own one?

There’s an array of reasons why someone may want to buy a NFT. For some, the reason may be emotional value, because NFTs are seen as collectors items. For others, they are seen as an investment opportunity similar to cryptocurrencies, because the value could increase.

When were NFTs created?

Writer and podcaster Andrew Steinwold traced the origins of NFTs back to 2012, with the creation of the Colored Coins cryptocurrency. But NFTs didn’t move into the mainstream until five years later, when the blockchain game CryptoKitties began selling virtual cats in 2017.