Sale Windows, London

We have to admit that we are struggling at the moment to find anything innovative happening around town right now that we haven't already included on this site, and so we have a selection of Sale schemes for you.  We guess its a necessary evil and all part of the commercial calender out there on the high street, so lets get it out of the way and we'll bring you some none Sale schemes the rest of the week.

Cos, London

As Sale windows go, while this is a very simple scheme from Cos, although the tiny details here make it just that little bit more interesting.  OK, well it is just a hanging graphic with the zeros and O's punched out, but on closer inspection, some wonderful words have also been printed randomly across it.  What more can I possibly say about it really?

Desiguel, London

After a whole month of entries from New York, its sadly time to focus back on London.  I say sad, as I found some amazing schemes across the pond and its Sale time back here and not the most visually exciting time of the year but but then by the nature of travelling, at some point you have to return.  Anyway, on my quest to find some kind of innovation - and it has been difficult -  here's the first for you.  OK, well, not the most exciting scheme I've ever seen, only a slight variation on the Sale theme.  Here, at Desiquel, their vinyl informs us they they love Sale (I don't particularly) however with their giant sized t-shirt, this scheme is salvaged from the ranks of  the hideous.  But only just.

Sale: Vivienne Westwood, London

I am hoping that this will be the final Sale window that I will need to include this season. This is a quite an uninspiring time of year, its cold and miserable and although I am excited about seeing the new seasons schemes soon, I wont be sorry to see the back of Sale time. If you happen to be along the Conduit st. here in London do drop by the Vivienne Westwood store. Westwood's stores are usually beautifully produced and ooze depth of quality (even if the product itself doesn't always). Anyway, here the team have used black vinyl on the fenestration with swathes of fabric forming the backdrop. The bust forms, I believe are by my lovely friends at Proportion-London which always look amazing. What is interesting here are the use of lenticulars - 3D moving images. Of course, one has to move around the image for it to change and a camera can only capture one at a time. Anyway, lets look forward to Spring.

Sale: Calvin Klein, London

Unfortunately, my images of the latest Calvin Klein concept here in London are a little blurred but the video that I made which can be seen on my YouTube Channel: Jhvefun probably does this scheme a little more justice as it captures the movement happening here rather than just a still and a moment in time. Anyway, after viewing the superb store in NYC recently this store sadly pales quite significantly by comparison. Although the NYC store is fairly large and there are more windows to enable the creative teams to install much larger schemes, this store has the advantage of being able to house much smaller and detailed concepts. A the end of the day, I guess this is Sale and I am thankful that they have at least not adopted the obligatory Red signifying Sale time, although I am interested in what the first Spring scheme will be - watch this space.

Sale: Reiss, London

If you happen to be on Regent st. here in London this week, do go and have a look at the Reiss Windows. This scheme, although possibly lost during the daylight hours does come alive when night falls. Strings of 'beads' suspended to form these loops are the main concept for this Sale scheme. Reiss, of course do some great quality schemes, although simple and always work well. My only criticism, I suppose, is perhaps that they never really do enough to make a huge impact or statement, at least for me. Anyway, the the product is OK, if a little pricey for what seems an almost identikit Zara but twice the price. Still, I guess there is a market for this type of global retailer and they certainly seem to be doing very well. I am now itching to see the end of the Sale period and the launch of Spring schemes so in the mean time will be scouring the streets on my journey as a flaneur to find them for you.

Sale: Mandarina Duck

I have often seen this store and looked at it with admiration although only once ventured inside. I suppose my need for quality luggage and bags is lacking and therefore never felt that I should return as I tend to find whenever I travel that my suitcases always rotate around the carousel at airports absolutely bashed, handles missing, and zips and wheels broken so I am reluctant to spend a huge amount of money on these things. Anyway, this store is well documented on the Internet although I have always had difficulty photographing it as either there is too much reflection on the glass or the lights are switched off at night time. Anyway, luckily this evening I managed to finally capture some images for you all. Here, the brand use these bright Yellow sprayed figures with a futuristic feel to them on which the product is placed. At the centre of the store is this giant figure punctuating through the second floor. It is a remarkable piece of sculpture and I must say it is great fun. If you happen to be on Conduit St. here in London, do go an have a look. The product of course is superb quality and the store, a real spectacle.

Sale: Pringle, London

Is it still Sale time? Well, sadly yes. London seems to be getting colder by the hour and the dreaded Sale period is still not over yet. Miles and miles or Red banners pollute the shopping journey this time of year which really is so uninspiring. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to happen upon Pringle, Bond St. here in London. Pringle are one of the few brands that do Sale incredibly well. (If you have a look back to their Summer Sale scheme on this blog you will see what I mean) What a wonderful pleasure to see this brand make so much effort during this period of the retail calender. Strings of beads and Black vinyl with product placed against a monochromatic background. This gives the illusion here of much greater space - the windows are actually very narrow, however the team here do handle product incredibly well and the scheme works brilliantly. Thank you Pringle for giving us this gem and spectacle during such an uneventful time of year.

Sale: Mulberry, London

I must confess that I wasn't too enthusiastic with the Christmas scheme at Mulberry recently here in London with its out sized Red Apples and which I also recorded in NYC - but thats globalisation for you. However, we have seen these tree stumps change from Black to Red (Pink and Orange) for their Sale scheme and these I feel do work rather well. Previously we saw them painted Black and used with large beetles crawling all over them in conjunction with figures with quite 'mad' hair. However, I am pleased to see that Mulberry hasn't wasted its precious scheme budgets on the blandest period of the year and have utilised an existing scheme which is perfectly fine as we wade our way through this global recession. Anyway, watch this space and see what happens next.

Sale: Jaegar, London

It is so cold here at the moment in London and the snow and ice doesn't help matters. However, I was crossing over Regent st. from Conduit st. here in London while meandering through the West End in order to keep on top of all of the wonderful concepts and ideas that are being explored in the city and came across Jaegar. Of course we can see multiple schemes around the globe that use vinyl on the glass, and Jaegar seem to be using this a lot in the past few schemes, although, to me, this gives this concept an almost 1950's television set feel to their Sale concept.
OK, well it does look a little messy, if I am honest, but it is Sale time and the 'market stall' look seems to be de riguer here in town. Anyway, again we can see the land-of-the-giants sized lettering, as used in Fenwicks too along Bond St., only these are glittery too. Jaegar, usually produce very high quality schemes, although not necessarily particularly creative, but what they do, they do well. Anyway, role on post-sale.

Sale: Diesal, London

Diesal is one of my favourite visual brands right now and the stuff they do is always so exciting. I love their Design philosophy and how much they seem to experiment at a localised level. I would normally be disappointed that they used the same Sale concept as last Summer which you can find in this blog, however, the rest of the time their work is so good, that this is completely forgivable. Well, we are in a global recession and I guess it is a case of 'needs must' and it still is a good Sale scheme. In the meantime, I am looking forward to their new concept launch for 2010 in a few weeks' time.

Sale: Fenwick, London

If there is one store I would love to get my hands on, it would definitely be this one. I cant quite work this brand out. We have the incredible Harvey Nichols. Selfridges, Harrods and Liberty here in London and I can almost guarantee that if you asked anyone to name the department stores in London those four would be the ones (maybe House of Fraser and John Lewis too). Yet Fenwick is a department store in the centre of the Universe along Bond St. and yet seems to be a very sleepy giant and surviving. Bizarre. I have only been inside here a handful of times, I suppose, like so many places it just doesn't occur to me to shop here. That's a shame as I do feel in its superbly prime position it could be the main draw in town, although maybe it just doesn't want to be? But I feel this is one of London's biggest missed opportunities, and the wonderful things that could be done here are limitless. Anyway, one thing I always enjoy are land-of-the-giants sized props wherever they are used. Here Fenwick have used out sized lettering spelling out Sale with their random collection of Rootstein figures.

Sale: COS, London

I strangely never think to look at COS here on Regent st. I think probably as they seem to sink into the background a little without anything particularly visual, therefore I never seem to be drawn to them. However, these Sale structures that they have placed in the window caught my eye and I thought I should record them as we so rarely are shown the structure from which these things are built - of course this is deliberate. If you are not familiar with COS they are the mid-market sister brand of H&M and tend to produce a rather sophisticated collection of clothing aimed at a more discerning consumer. I have seen their store at Westfield (the newish large shopping mall in West London) and I was actually, I must say, rather impressed. Although, I never seem to plan a purchase around this brand personally, I can see the attraction. However, I do like my shopping journeys to be a little more visual and this brand, for me, is just a little too bland for my preference. Of course the stores are great, the product is great but the environment just doesn't sing to me. There just seems to be lacking any personality, not in a celebrity endorsement sense - God forbid - but just in who it is. Am I wrong?

Sale: Harvey Nichols, London

Go and see Harvey Nichols the ever Uber fashionable department store, as I wouldn't have expected any thing less this Sale time from this company. This simple scheme in large format vinyl does exactly what its supposed to do and shouts out that the Sale is on. Contained within the vinyl lettering are small reveals, which just give us snippets of whats on offer. The is a great tease strategy and the passerby cant resist but be drawn to these tiny areas of interest. Of course, things which are revealed are always far more exciting that if they are simply presented to us and this is why this concept works so well. No doubt the team are beavering away working on the first major installment of 2010 which is something I always look forward to viewing as I flaneur the walkways of London.

Sale: Anthropologie, London

No time flaneuring the city would be complete without checking out Anthropologie. I have noticed that a lot of retailers this year are utilising their Christmas schemes for Sale. I'm really pleased to see this. Sale, although, I suppose a necessary part of the calender to shift all that excess stuff that didn't sell, it is rather a dull time of year visually and therefore why bother trying to develop a magnificent and complex scheme which soaks up the annual budget when we can enjoy so much more the rest of the time. Anyway, Anthropologie have reused their great Christmas scheme which I loved anyway (apart from the silver birch trees which could be seen in just about every other scheme around town) but the props are always magnificent and great fun. I am dying to see what they do when all returns to normal in a few weeks.

Sale: Esprit, London

After an horrendously long flight from NYC across the pond back to the UK, I definitely needed to get out to stretch my now jelly legs and breathe in the London pollution. While slipping and sliding my way around the icy city and having travelled from one cold climate to another I now feel at home again. Anyway, my first destination on my regular flaneuring of the city had to be Regent st. as new stores are opening, its late at night and therefore quiet, all of the multiples are in Sale and I could get a quick visual fix. Esprit brought a smile to my face and tired eyes displaying Zentai-like suits in their windows. These are great fun and I couldn't help wondering what a wonderful brand this would be if they actually sold these, even just as a promotion. Male and Female mannequins have been dressed in these 'lycra' suits in their windows in a repetition layout in front of a large format graphic in the obligatory Sale 'Red' telling us its Sale time in multiple languages. Incredible fun, simply presented and telling the message. Great. In the mean time, the 'courteous' guy at immigration who confiscated my fabulous MarieBelle cocoa drinking Chocolate from my favourite Chocolatier in NYC because I didn't pack it in my luggage as the tins explode cocoa powder all over my clothes - I know where you live.

Sale Windows

Its that time of year again - Sale. It was so refreshing to see these Pringle windows along Bond Street this week. Sale windows traditionally, of course, have been (in general) a mass of Red and White notices, swing tickets, flashes and hanging baffles, so it was such a pleasure so see retailers being creative with such a dull part of the season. These windows with their considered paint 'splashes', props of huge jars filled with different coloured water placed next to the product and a background suggesting water coloured washes I thought worked incredibly well. Diesal (further below) as witty as ever, with the candelabra, sofa and urn wrapped in a Sale printed cloth suggest perhaps that, really, everything must go.