Longchamp, London

We have often wondered if anyone would pick up on the 'Love Lock' or 'Love Padlocks' theme when we first saw them on the Ponte Milvio bridge in Rome over a decade ago.  The craze of course can now be seen the world over although so many of the old bridges have begun to show signs of collapsing.  In fact in some cases there have been reports that the railings have serious deteriorated, so much so that the various authorities are now encouraging people to tie a ribbon instead of padlocks.  The name of the two lovers of course is usually inscribed on the padlock which is locked to the bridge, post or whatever is seen to be a romantic spot and the key to the lock is thrown into the river (or in some cases over the edge of the building).   Longchamp have picked up on the theme using padlock props of varying sizes so we can now tick that one off as done. Tick.

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Hermes, London

Although their store along Bond street is under going renovations (and we cant wait to see the end result), thankfully their Sloane street store is still producing their gorgeous schemes.  Here, out sized fruits in delicious colours support their fantastic product.

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Louis Vuitton, London

The delicious simplicity of these schemes is ever so slightly wonderfully painful and we are always left feeling that the installations are so seemingly easy that why is no one else working in this way?  OK, well the reality of course is that the brand here almost certainly have incredible 'production' behind them and naturally it has taken a lot of work behind the scenes to produce such incredible work.  This is the more generic scheme which has probably gone across most of the stores beyond the 'Maisons', but just so beautifully produced.

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Moschino, London

This is quite a fun scheme and yet equally a little disturbing don't you think?  Children look away now. Being pulled by a forceps-like grabber in a machine of manically faced 'plushies' is  possibly great sinister fun (well, revenge fantasy we guess) unless of course its you inside the machine.  OK, well, we know its just a narrative, and not a person but a mannequin, but a rather bizarre narrative at that.  We shall never sleep soundly again.  Still, we're talking about it so job well done we guess.

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Smythson, London

The History of Travel at Smythson right now.  Wow, just look at this amazing biplane prop, produced completely from Smythson products (we guess).  We havent seen such impressive windows at this brand for quite a while.  Yes, of course they are always good and great quality, although this one really does tip the balance.  Masses of Blue envelopes have been used to create the smoke across both windows and delicious products are strategically placed.  An all round great window scheme we thought. 

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Harlequin Design Celebrate 10 Years

OK, this isn't quite a retail store windows entry, although it is experiential and therefore we feel justified to include it.  Having just returned from a day with those gorgeous guys at Harlequin Design who so kindly invited us to share in their 10 year anniversary celebrations at Ascot today, we felt compelled to share this with you.  For those of you reading this internationally you may remember Ascot from a scene in the 1964 movie My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn.  Today was less about 'Come on Dover, move your blooming arse' and more about American Hope and Magician flipping hurry up, neither of whom helped us win, dammit.  Anyway, we have the highest respect for these guys and the work that they do and gawd they know how to party.  Champagne and just about every other alcoholic beverage flowed all day and we had an absolute ball.  Of course we wouldn't want to gush (although the Champagne has kicked in) but we adore you guys and thank you for such an amazing day, we had a brilliant time...hic.....hic.  Check out their website http://www.harlequin-design.com  or click on their banner on the side of the main page.

Isabel Marant, London

Well we have seen the references to Joan Miro..ish for some time now so maybe its time to move on to something else?  Its not that we don't like the simplicity of what this brand do and of course who could argue with references which are so loaded, however, perhaps we need to refresh this brand a little with an injection of something a little more, well, dare we say it...oh OK here goes....less ordinary?  Cu'mon Isabel Marant, lets see something else now?

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Gant, London

Doing what they do so well, apartments and lifestyle are the strength of this brand and we love them for it.  We particularly love the Warholian / New York references below.  But....just wait until September time.  Why? We hear you ask.  Well, we've had a little preview of their windows in conjunction with RIBA and they are a-m-a-z-i-n-g......so just watch this space and we will share them with you as soon as they are installed.

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Aizone, Middle East

Images Courtesy and Copyright Arte Vetrina Project

If you happen to be reading this in the Middle East (Dubai, Beirut or Kuwait) then do take a look at Aizone right now.  With Sale season in full swing in many parts of the world in order to get ready for AW2014 (can you believe it already..!) it is refreshing too see so many brands moving away from the usual Red and White.  Check out the lovely lovely guys who produced this scheme for the brand too at http://www.artevetrinaproject.it/IT/index.xhtml

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Diane Von Furstenberg, London

If you want to see a good example of a product led scheme then this is one of them.  If you are not sure what this means then essentially the product has informed the concept which surrounds it.  Its not our favourite scheme from this brand (it also looks very similar to Dior right now too) although it is what it is and these windows are very small at this site so we recognise that it is actually very difficult to do much else. 

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Anthropologie, London

The creativity which we love so much always oozes from this brands windows.  We know we gush by the bucket load when we include the schemes here, but then when everyone else is in 'Sale' we always know that these guys will be doing something interesting.  And here we have it.  A combination of mixed media which sums up the season, all looking a little Monet-esque.  What you are unable to view is the artists bench which is also in this scheme and loaded with years and years of oil paints so thick that is looks like layers of coloured wax.  Anyway, if you happen to be passing their Regent street store here in the centre of it all, then just have a look in and drool too.

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Dover street Market, London

Wow, have you seen the windows at Dover street market recently?  The installation here by Comme Des Garcons which features foamboy monsters by the Artist Niek Pulles looks quite amazing.  Pushing those boundaries ever further this brand (or house of brands) absolutely challenge what we know as Visual Merchandising and really does put the Art back into windows.  Quite literally.  If Leigh Bowery were still alive we can imagine him wearing something like this although of course he would probably still wear his platform boots inside platform shoes which gave him his enormous stature.  Even though he's now sadly long gone the super creatives do live on.  You really must go and see these for yourself.

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Max Mara, London

Max Mara used to produce such interesting schemes but over the past year we have, well, just passed by as we are struggling to find anything interesting about them.  Of course, the product is superb and we guess thats enough for them to trade on although the inclusion of something a little more interesting or rather less ordinary would always be appreciated.  The Black and White images are of course beautiful, in a repetition format using the pyramidal format although is that really all you want to see?  Cu'mon Max Mara beef it up a little?

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Diptyque, London

Picture the scene, Greece Summer 1990......are you there?  OK, that's it really, nice video and great images on the website although we cant help feeling that there are some links missing here?  Well, we understand that this is the discovery of Philosykos and Figuier but unless we are meant to make the connections ourselves then we are not quite getting the scheme right now.  The message is implicit but we would prefer something a little more explicit otherwise we are just smelling you in the dark.  It smells nice but we just don't get it as there are quite a few ambiguous strands here.

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