Archive for the ‘Store Windows’ Category

« Older Entries

Friday Fun: We’ve got you pegged

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Harvey Nichols‘ windows are looking completely fabulous this week. Back in the 90’s, when this store was THE fashion destination and Selfridges or Liberty were merely functional ‘department stores’, Harvey Nics windows were an event in themselves. Winning awards for their brilliantly creative approach. I think I could be right in saying that they were one of the innovators of using store window space as a totally creative area, building fantasy fashion playgrounds where the product was almost an aside. We think the current VM team is doing a sterling job in replicating that excitement.

The current scheme features this amazing dress constructed wholly from wooden pegs (hence the post title!), alongside a piano that seemed to be made from cassette tapes and a sports car made from battalions of tiny plastic soldiers. Why? Who cares! It looks fabulous and that’s got to be 99% of what fashion is about.

Click here for more Friday Fun!

Harvey Nichols

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Friday Fun, Store Windows | 4 Comments »

Blink Inspiration: Fashionable Arts

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

When we are out and about retailing, spotting a new window scheme is always a moment of excitement for us. There are some stores that really take this opportunity to present a brilliant creative vision to the world, bringing in elements of fantasy and story telling, beyond just basic product promotion. You may recall a recent post where we got a little over excited about the Nicole Farhi Bond Street store display. Well, James Shouli and his team recently did it again. James- apologies that we have taken us long to get this post on the go, but better late than never! This time the instore VM team collaborated with sculptress, Benedetta Mori Ubaldini.

“I first came across Benedetta when I was introduced to her by a friend. Her work is so beautiful and different, I wanted to create an installation for her that worked alongside the merchandise and created a beautiful fun scene showing the mannequins interacting with the animals” James Shouli

The Milanese sculptor is well known for her innovative and extraordinarily realistic wire work. Each piece starts life as flat ‘chicken wire’ which is gradually manipulated by hand, the pieces are twisted and joined together to give a seamless appearance with no internal structure. The result is a really subtle form that is ‘almost there’. Nicole, a sculptor herself, was thrilled to offer Benedetta the opportunity to exhibit her unusual animals across the 5 London stores. At “Blink” we love the way that fashion often embraces other arts, and the way that this often results in a new burst of creativity for everybody concerned. From our point of view, this is a perfect example. We can’t wait to see what the team come up with next!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Arts, Store Windows | 1 Comment »

Windows: Visualising an Opportunity

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

As we were retailing for this month’s “Blink” reports we were stopped still in our tracks on Bond Street. Its not usually the place for feeling fashionably stunned. That’s generally the preserve of Dover Street just around the corner. The source of our amazement and delight was the Nicole Farhi store. I know!

The building is obviously undergoing some sort of face lift and is covered in ugly scaffolding. The VM team, headed up by James Shouli (Creative Visual Merchandising Manager) saw this as an opportunity rather than an eyesore and decided to take those lemons and made fashion lemonade. They could have left the plain white hoardings a boring bit of construction functionality, but instead they turned them into a canvas, extending their in-store theme out onto the pavement. The scheme, designed by James, captures the sculptural mood of the Spring collection which was inspired by origami (as was our last interviewee’s collection!), so James used paper to illustrate to the supplier, Artefact, how he visualised the display working with the mannequins. Brilliant!

Click here for more on ‘Windows’.

Nicole Farhi, Bond Street

Nicole Farhi, Bond Street

Nicole Farhi, Bond Street

Nicole Farhi, Bond Street

Nicole Farhi, Bond Street

Tags: ,
Posted in Store Windows | 3 Comments »

Windows: Liberty’s Quilty Pleasures

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

When you think of Liberty and when you think of quilting, the images that may spring to mind are of nice Granny type ladies sitting around drinking tea while they hand stitch together patches of ditsy florals. I think that’s perhaps why we were so shocked at the sauce in the current window display celebrating “Quilty Pleasures” in a link up with the V&A’s quilting exhibition.

The windows feature quilts that seem to have sprung from the Tracey Emin school of needlework. Liberty commissioned  textile artists Amanda Fatherazi and Lou Gardiner to bring the notion of quilting well into the 21st Century. That is a mission that they certainly appear to have accomplished!

We’ll be featuring these shots and a couple more in the next quarter’s ‘Graphics’ report.

Click here for more on in-store displays.

Tags: ,
Posted in Graphics, Inspiration, Store Windows | 1 Comment »

Blink travels- Paris, ‘Merci’ baby.

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

This week “Blink” becomes “Clignotement” as we post a few delights from gay Pareeee.

The first is one that we’ve been keeping in the locker since we were in Paris in February. Whenever we are in the City of Light we are drawn like a moth to the flame that is ‘Merci’. We know you know all about it as we have posted about this brilliant store before. If you happened to miss out on that, just click here.

This time, the courtyard was frosted with a fresh snowfall, and the store interior was dedicated to a collaboration with super cute kids brand, ‘Bon Ton’. The main central space played host to the biggest baby doll that we have ever seen. To us, it was creepy rather than chic, but the rest of the store was just as delightful as ever.

'Merci'

'Merci' 'Bon Ton' collaboration

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blink Travels, Inspiration, Store Windows | 1 Comment »

Shop Talk- The Saints come marching in

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Well, we were saddened when we heard that another multiple retail name was taking space on Westbourne Grove, particularly as this store move was displacing a unique collection of traders in an arcade that served as a key part of the posher end of Portobello Market. Our quirky and historical patch of London is swiftly coming to resemble Oxford Street and its making us feel blue. I guess it’s progress of a sort, but it does make me wish for the old days when it was all a bit shabbier and a bit shadier in W11…

As of December 2009 a huge section of Westbourne Grove, up to the corner of Portobello Road, is now an All Saints store. It’s a behemoth of a retail space across two levels, containing womenswear, menswear, kids, undies and a smattering of homewares across 10.000 sq ft. I had never realized that they had so much product in their collections, but barely any styles are multiply displayed.

The interior mood certainly builds on their dark and slightly gothic signature shop fit, but there is an interesting additional feature. In what seems like small homage to the history of the area (one of London’s best markets for ‘antiques’), the windows don’t feature mannequins sporting the latest look. Instead there are rows upon rows of beautiful old fashion Singer sewing machines. These continue instore, covering much of the back wall and surrounding the staircase. So, we have to give credit where credit is due. They have slightly tailored their retail statement to make it feel appropriate and empathetic to the surroundings. It is a very cool shopping experience, just not the experience I’m looking for when I wander down Portobello Road.

All Saints, Westbourne Grove

Tags: ,
Posted in Store Windows | 3 Comments »

Pattern- Mini Floral, Maxi Impact

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

So now we have to step back in time slightly ‘cos we had some good stuff lined up for the blog which we set aside while covering London Fashion Week. Hope you don’t mind!

This is one from our Paris trip to attend PV and do a little inspirational retailing. We popped into Colette- well, it would have been rude not to! Actually, its a must unless you want to be the only bod in the whole global fashion industry not to have scrummed amongst the mannequins to try and divine the season’s key messages. This most important looks are featured in the store windows, and this time they had decided to showcase the brilliantly talented, London based designer, Erdem. His impeccable taste in pattern, microscopic attention to detail and innovative silhouettes all combine to create something really quite wonderful.

According to a few of the printers we spoke with who were showing at Indigo within PV, clients were returning from a trip to Colette excitedly purchasing every bit of artwork that closely resembled this look. Expect to see variations on this look from now into Spring Summer 2011…

Erdem in the window of Colette

Erdem in the window of Colette

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blink Travels, Pattern, Store Windows | 1 Comment »

Windows- H&M through the Looking Glass

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Lewis Carroll is providing inspiration across the board at the moment. Robbie Williams is channeling the white rabbit in his current video and Tim Burton’s 3D interpretation of Alice’s adventures is due for release in March (we can’t wait!). H&M have very smartly jumped on this fantasy bandwagon and through the looking glass for their current VM scheme. It feels very ‘Alice’ blended with quite a lot of Tim Walker. The scale play and bold patterns really work well together. Fairytale fantasies and a large dose of escapism feel like the perfect themes to explore for Spring 2010, and what better place to escape the daily grind and grey skies than the fabulous world of fashion?

H&M channels Alice in Wonderland

H&M channels Alice in Wonderland

H&M channels Alice in Wonderland

H&M channels Alice in Wonderland

Tags: ,
Posted in Store Windows | 4 Comments »

Blink Seasonal- You Angel

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

While we’re in a festive mood, we thought we’d treat you to this group of images that could be taken in a seasonal way- but angels aren’t just for Christmas! These are actually taken from the Winter ‘Graphics’ report and have been gathered over the past couple of months. They just seemed appropriate to share with you as we approach December 25th.

The wings on the store front of the Jeremy Scott pop up shop reflected his detailing in the trainers. At ‘Merci’ we saw a plain old wire hanger elevated to desirability with a bit of genius bending. Its a great device that crosses all sort of barriers and appeals to a broad audience, so get your wings on and channel your angelic thoughts into some cupid cute new product.

Click here for more on ‘Graphics’. Click here for more on ‘Events’ which includes our favourite Christmas VM-ing.

Jeremy Scott with Adidas, pop up shop on Newburgh Street

Jeremy Scott with Adidas, pop up shop on Newburgh Street

Matches stall at LFW

Matches stall at LFW

East London

East London

Merci, Paris

Merci, Paris

Tags:
Posted in Graphics, Store Windows | 1 Comment »

Blink Seasonal- Creative Liberty

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Now for our final Christmas award which goes to Liberty. This is a special commendation for humor and glamour combined to create a fabulous fashion take on Christmas decs. Yes, we do bang on about Liberty at every opportunity, but they are truly one of the most inspiring retailers that we have here in dear old Blighty. Oh, and I’m not on the payroll (but wouldn’t refuse a Christmas stocking full of Liberty vouchers if anyone’s wondering!).

How do these manage to still look chic?

Liberty

Liberty

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tags:
Posted in Dresses, Events, Store Windows | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries