Topshop, London

Following on from H&M's festival theme, Topshop of course, with their fingers firmly on the pulse of what's going on out there (on every occasion) also have their perfectly timed festival theme in place.  These guys always look so fricking cool don't they and always seem to get it so damned right.

H&M, London

We've been walking passed this scheme for a few weeks now and missed our chance to capture the under water scheme prior to this one which was great fun.  But anyway, the guys at H&M have done it again this brand just gets better and better at what they do.  The brand is obviously gearing up for the Festival season and this scheme just says it brilliantly.

Tezenis, London

We often find some quite interesting schemes happening at Tezenis and this one certainly looks better that our images taken through jet lagged eyes.  If you travel through Oxford Circus, right in the heart of it all then you may be familiar with this one already.  Anyway, while this scheme is rather stacked to the rafters and the mannequins appear to be in a police line up it could have been quite an exciting and fun scheme.  Unfortunately the retail standards here are not always the best example and one only needs to glance at the bottles on the cart to see that maybe the hypothetical 'Tracy' the Saturday girl who normally works on the fitting room thought she would give a bit of product handling a whirl, kind of scenario appears to have happened.  Utter chaos really. Sigh.

Mappin and Webb, London

We usually pass by this store along Bond Street as they rarely do anything interesting.  In fact we have never included them here previously and have never really noticed them before.  Established in 1774 this brand has a massive heritage and therefore no doubt have a huge Asian following, we would imagine?  Anyway, we always go and see what good old, but exciting Tiffany are doing but never here until now.  Someone has clearly been breathing some desperately needed life into this dusty old brand and it is finally looking interesting (we cant say again as they have never done anything before now as far as we know?). Anyway, if you happen to be making a bee line for McQueen or popping in to Joseph on your way to Fortnum's do stop and have a look at what these guys are doing along the way.  The day we looked the passing footfall were loving it and we actually had to take our turn in order to take photos.  What better endorsement that you are doing something less ordinary can you get?  Keep it coming guys...!

Royal Academy, London

Have you seen this amazing installation on the front of the Royal Academy yet? If you happen to be on London's Piccadilly, have a peak through, or better still go and take a closer look; very beautiful. 

Louis Vuitton, London

Wow, we do love the new scheme at good old LV right now.  Would you look at these props..!  Its great to see these guys going back to their animal schemes and references to the curatorial.  Covered in gold and glinting in the London sunshine, these look quite spectacular, don't you think?

Burberry, London

After what was an agonising journey in fricking economy via the most dreadful Spanish airline Iberia we are finally home.  We have never had such a hideous experience from an airline and what are quite frankly the laziest airline stewardesses in the sky and the most basic dated entertainment for a whole 11 hours of our lives which appeared from one screen for everyone.  Did we just step back in time to the 1970's?  Given the dated appearance, perhaps we were annoyed by the teasing notion that Pam Ann may appear? Sadly, no such luck, although after a few minutes of the same old, same old gags even she would have been tiring.  It is not clear why it appears to have joined with British Airways but brand damage is hard to shake off. What ever happened to customer service?  Do not fly with Iberia...you will receive even less than what you don't pay for and it really is not worth the agony.  If you google their feedback you will find it very difficult to find anything positive written about them and for very good and verifiable reasons.  Anyway, that said, we have popped out to have a look and see whats happening on home territory here in London if only just to stretch our legs and unfurl from economy agony.  Strangely nothing much has actually moved on.  We do love the Black and White scheme at Burberry right now however.

Nativo's, Antigua, Guatemala

In our final entry from Guatemala before we fly back to good old Grey and chilly Blighty, we thought we would share this gorgeous store with you which was part of our research.  Obviously we have tonnes of images but only time to share a few.  Nativo's is quite a small store, but the merchandise is quite delicious.  Just look at this stuff.  All handmade and just waiting for your Dollars.  Its a long old flight home so we may be able to whip up a few of these for ourselves on the way back.

Pedro G Cotino, Antigua, Guatemala

The light in this amazing country is quite incredible.  The heat is too.  Here at probably one of the best stores on 5th Avenue (we really do wish they had called it something else) is Pedro G Cotino (or at least that's what we think its called as no illuminated signage or Gold lettering adorns these stores of course).  Someone here understands retail, merchandising and presentation.  We do wish we could have made a purchase here but sadly, realistically what would we do with a hand carved canoe filled with rugs back in London?  Anyway, if you happen to be in this part of the world do go and drool over the merchandise here which is housed in the most gorgeous space and presented so beautifully and so seductively.

Nim Po't, Antigua, Guatemala

Just a fleeting visit to this incredible place we had to research for some gorgeous stuff to take back home.  Here at the amazing Emporium of goodies called Nim P'ot (ironically on 5th Avenue; we chuckled too and no Saks either) their stuff is stacked to the rafters.  And amazing stuff it is too.  Need a hand carved figure or a hand embroidered throw, then look no further.  This absolutely stunning place is the kind of store one would view in a glossy magazine although the place is far less staged and very earthy.....think Anthropologie. 

Panama Canal, Panama

No journey would be complete to Panama without a quick visit to view the Panama canal. Its a little like one of the 100 things in the world to see before you die, right?  Anyway, this is the last entry from Panama  before we fly to view the delights of Guatemala.  We've uploaded our inspiration from Panama onto Slideshare which you can access from either the top of this page or through their site.

Kenneth Cole, Panama

We really used to like the Kenneth Cole brand but we're not entirely sure what has happened to them?  We quite like the call to action vinyl's here on the fenestration which informs us to 'Take A Stand' (or take a seat) however.  What was particularly cool about this brand was that it actually once felt very luxurious and travelling from London and finding them in Chicago and New York was actually very exciting and then the brand planted itself onto the streets of London and we never shopped there again.  In December we came across the Reed Krakoff store in New York which incidentally we loved......hmmmmmm.....Kenneth Cole is looking rather lookie likey a very cheap version of the Reed Krakoff scheme, eh?.....bizarre coincidence?  Or, was the original Reed Krakoff scheme actually not so original in the first instance?  Who knows?

Veley, Panama

We been scouring this whole mall for innovative ideas and presentations and this particular store drew us in.  We think the brand is called 'Veley' but it could be 'Viley'?  Anyway, we've never seen this one before so it was great to view a local brand in a local place; move over globalisation.  Here we have essentially a shoe brand which is making things so interesting.  We loved the references to its heritage, the manufacturing process and the presentation itself certainly wasn't the most offensive, but ultimately it what was very interesting is to view a brand which at least is trying to make things a little less ordinary and we like that.