Matches Fashion, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright Nathan Hicks

Have you seen the scheme at Matches yet?  This incredible luxury retailer has been working in collaboration with Jotta production and have commissioned emerging artists to create unique installations in each of their London stores for Christmas 2011. Each window features a festive three dimensional illuminated artwork by artists Chloe Bonfield, Puck Collective, and POS Textiles, surrounded by a display of gifts decorated with bespoke wrapping paper designed especially for Matches.  This is an incredible move forward for retailers tapping into the resources of London/UK's finest and creative Artists which we support 100%.  After all, both Warhol and Dali began their careers in this industry and so much potential is lost if we're not behind the new, fresh and talented.  We love Matches philosophy, don't you?

Banana Republic, London

We wrote about this scheme a short while ago here at Banana Republic.  Unfortunately, we were rather hasty and on the ball....or bauble (!).......and wrote about it before it had been completed.  The guys here have worked incredibly hard, this scheme looks absolutely fun and we keep going back for more and more views.  From across the street (Regent Street) this scheme, in conjunction with other retailers looks absolutely superb.  Well done guys...........sorry we got there before you had finished, however it really is fantastic.

Desigual, London

Desigual have continually amused and entertained us throughout 2011 and possibly their final scheme for this year is no exception.  This scheme is quite ghostly in some respects with their glowing Santa head and so on.  The mannequins look very icy in this scheme and dressed in the merchandise from this brand which has a huge personality.  We can only wonder that, if these guys had a much bigger space to work with, what they could possibly do, although we are teasing ourselves to even think of this notion considering they have a relatively small space to work with at this store along Regent street.  In the meantime we read today that,  apparently the words 'thank you' have been replaced with the more commonly used 'cheers' here in the old U of K, so in the same as our fellow countrymen and women, Cheers Desigual for making our work ever more interesting and fun. 

Sebago, London

Were you are the Sebago launch last night?  If not, never mind, just pop by and take a look at Regent streets new addition to the high street.  The store was so rammed last night that it was difficult to get some decent shots to show you without loads of people in front of everything.  As you know, we don't do people in our images.  However, here are a few at least.  With their ocean liner interior space this is actually quite a beautiful store.  On the 'lower deck' gorgeous leather chairs and references to all things nautical.  As you can see, from the middle image, port holes illuminated from behind highlight the product.  This is quite a relatively small space by Regents street standards, although the guys here have really open this up and down stairs (or lower deck) you would have absolutely no idea where you were - pure escapism.  Upstairs, we love the old leather sofas and in particular the small props supporting the product.  Thanks guys for a great evening and hope the store is a great success.

Esprit, Hong Kong



Image Courtesy and Copyright Angel Ko

Our wonderful contact in Hong Kong, Angel Ko, continues to delight us with the very best of whats happening on the other side of the world (from us) right now.  Here at the incredible Esprit store, and no doubt a flag ship of the company, glows like a beacon to the masses on the high street.  How could anyone not be drawn to this?  The moving digital screens delight and entice us into the space, and so much so that we are dying to see what happens inside what Venturi called, in his book 'Learning from Las Vegas', the decorated shed.

Jack Wills, London

We haven't always been fans of this brand (and goodness knows one of their VM team reminded us last time we included this brand)  although, hands up, they seem to have grown into their skin.  Gone, it seems at least, is the American freshman / super senior 'look' and faux brand heritage (well we never really believed it all - with an office in sunny Salcombe in Devon, the cache was lost, so who would anyway?) and here we have the brand tapping into the latest of London's nostalgia, post-Royal wedding and pre-Jubilee 2012 trend with street party an' all.  We really do quite like where they are going with this but we guess its going to take just a little while longer until they really get this brand right.  We'll just keep watching from the sidelines anyway, but in the mean time we're just telling it like it is.

All Saints, London

Wow, what a refreshing change.  All Saints have (at least at their Regent street store) taken away the multitude of vintage Singer sewing machines and opened up their space to the world.  How different is this, hey?  We do love the product at this brand and this is quite a bold move, but a refreshing one at least.  We always have a peak inside this store and their product ranges are superb - we buy a lot of this stuff.  The industrial feel to their spaces just works so well and the lighting levels always seem to have that kind of dappled sunlight feel.  Anyway, do go and have a look at the space and see what a difference it makes.  These guys just get it so right.

H and M, London

End of another promotion......money in the till......job done.

Hermes, Hong Kong

Images Courtesy and Copyright Angel Ko

Our fabulous contact Angel Ko in Hong Kong has once again sent us some of the best that this part of the world has to offer in terms of window schemes in Asia.  Hermes are currently using these gorgeous White horses - of course this links quite nicely with their heritage - and bales of hay manicured to within an inch of their life and on which the product has been beautifully placed.  A very simple but so sophisticated, don't you think?

H and M, London

There was a huge amount of excitement in London's West end with the launch of Versace for Ebay this week.....oops, for H and M this week.  The queues were literally around the block waiting to buy this stuff.  We saw customers with literally bags full of this hideous 'bling' at the Tube stations throughout the day.  It seems H and M have cracked a fantastic promotional angle the likes of which we tend to only see outside Apple stores before the launch of yet another I-something.  Anyway,  we hope this week that you managed to get your one-of-each-size purchases to sell on Ebay too.

Fred Perry, London

We haven't checked out this brand for quite some time.  Well, not since the installation of the Amy Winehouse launch quite a few months ago now.  But anyway.  During 2011 we have seen quite a few references to trophy heads, whether, real - the skulls of them with horns or recreated in fabric - and tracked this trend throughout the year.  We saw knitted ones in Anthropologie last December in NYC next to the Rockefeller centre (or center? depending on where you are reading this)  and we do love them.  Here at Fred Perry, we have a combination of knit and fabric in conjunction with the the iconic laurel wreath for horns which is of course link very closely with this brand.  Great fun.

Gant, London

Were you at Gants 'Rugger' launch last night?  If you weren't invited then you really did miss an incredible evening in the Coolest place in London right now.

We weren't expecting what we found from this brand which seem to be synonymous with the American 'preppy' look, but....we really were quite stunned.  This brand have shifted, and incredibly so, with their 'Rugger' launch, from the high street generic male-look to a place which is unconventional, non-routine, anti-bourgeois, fabulously uncomfortable, youthful, thin, non-sentimental and non-rational - we love it.

These guys are flirting with living on the edge but in such a considered and intelligent way.  They wont reveal how to achieve their 'Cool' (this changes all the time anyway) however they have presented an incredible way of shopping that we just simply have to come back and look a lot more.

Louis Vuitton, London

Here's what you have all been waiting for.  Can we now please stop sending the stalking e-mails?  We know you have been waiting to see this scheme for ages, and here it is.  We saw the guys implementing this the other night but decided to wait and see the delivered and completed presentation to view it in all its glory so that we could be mesmerised by the spectacle of it all.  These guys always get it so right, don't they?  The attention to detail in their schemes is just superb and they simply and seemingly effortlessly deliver.  Of course, there is a vast amount of work behind these schemes and plenty of late nights too.   This brand wont be going into 'Sale' so we guess this is the final scheme of 2011.  They have produced some spectacular schemes of the highest quality throughout 2011 and we guess the next time we show this brand here will either be New York in December, Paris in January or the newest and latest scheme of 2012.