Diane Von Furstenberg, London

Given the amount of space that this brand have for their windows it really is no mean feat to create a narrative or at least something of interest within them.  We adore this brands NYC store in the meatpacking district with their huge space within which to work but here in London, squeezed into this tiny store the schemes are more miss than hit.  However, that said this is quite a winning scheme using mannequins styles which are particularly difficult to work with.  Simple and fun and much more interesting, plus better quality that some of their previous installations, don't you think?

Mathew Williamson, London

We've really enjoyed following this installation for several months now and this is the third change since its installation in April with its Easter eggs.  What a great concept and fantastic from a sustainability point of view.  In fact we thought this was so innovative that we have even included it in our first book Fashion Visual Merchandising due out later this year, published by Bloomsbury press.

Max Mara, London

We've never seen out sized props at Max Mara before so this is something a little bit new.  This is a great example of how to ooze sophistication in a window scheme, don't you think?  The purity and simplicity of this scheme matched with the tonal merchandise is just superbly done in the top window at least.  The backdrop of the second window (below) also looks great but does it jar a little with the merchandise or is it the 'hooker' / 'police line up' positioning of these mannequins?  Oh, everyone's a critic, eh?

Tods, London

This scheme at Tods brought a huge smile to our faces, how fun is this?  This brand of course always produce so fantastic quality schemes from the best materials but rarely do we see any injection of humour in here at all; but not this time, fantastic fun.  We're just a bit let down by men's shoes though.  OK, well we have the usual Black, Brown or Grey pieces of footwear but men have a sense of humour too, don't they? (yes, we do) 

Anthropologie, London

We've been searching the markets all week to view some of the key trends in props and naturally have come across some delicious finds.  Of course Anthropologie always do this so damned well anyway, so we might as well just swing by and get our 'fix'.  If you haven't been to see this brand recently do go in and have a look.  This is definitely the place to see if you need inspiration.

Chanel, London

..........and here's that shade of Blue again.  Chanel have been very visually poor for such a long time, only really noted as we would have expected this brand to be a leader on the visual front.  However, with the launch of their new store along Bond street recently, this scheme is definitely one of their better ones.  We still don't like these pin head mannequins, but the we 'get' the narrative here and the scene does actually work very well.  There is a VM God after all?

Tiffany, London

Repetition of these beautifully produced radiating forms are absolutely on trend right now.  OK, well this type of Asian paper parasol has been done countless times before, but the mini scale with just one piece of gorgeous jewellery highlights the luxury of this particular brand, don't you think?  We're also seeing this shade of Blue quite frequently at the moment around town, particularly at some of the Luxe brands so no doubt the laggards will be following shortly?

Guess, London

Globalisation and mass brands are not exactly our favourite things to look at, particularly when so little skill is involved in implementing schemes such as this.  The layers of graphics of course work very well suspended in a 'gravity' fomat but the images themselves are of the usual hideous lifestyle that make our you-know-whats clench.  Still, there is a market for this kind of malarkey and some people clearly love this stuff; just not us.

Juicy Couture, London

This is a much cleaner scheme at Juicy right now, well certainly compared to their usual installations.  OK, well it is just a panel with letter form and a vinyl on the fenestration so hardly revolutionary but certainly much better than the stuff we've seen before.  We just wish they would dust once in a while.  Dust bunnies galore in this store along Regent street.

Harrods, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright Minki Balinki

Have you seen the delicious handbags currently at Harrods yet?  Those ever talented guys at Minki Balinki were commissioned by Loewe to reproduce their cult classic Amazona bag alongside the likes of Mulberry, Fendi and Chloe.  The bag itself is produced from these highly reflective tools suspended by 132 vertical transparent wires from a bespoke steel grid to recreate this giant handbag.  Absolutely stunning, don't you think?

Lanvin, London

Now this is an interesting scheme from Lanvin.  So often we are really quite critical of their schemes as they aren't always the best executed ones in the world, although this is a bit of a winner in some ways.  We love the boxy dogs in leopard which look almost like pieces of Memphis furniture, wouldn't you say?  But, how tight are those trousers?  Ouch..! squeaky.  

SFD, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright SFD

We're big fans of this retail supplier and how fantastic to view their amazing showroom.  With the recent launch of their new ranges, SFD have also just produced this incredible new scheme; the Art of Retail.  The scheme features four of their White mannequins with cans of different coloured inks placed above them and slowly dripping down onto the mannequins heads.  As is the unpredictable nature of the drips each figure looks completely different and over a series of weeks the cans will be refilled slowly building up layers to create four uniquely covered mannequins.  Why cant we see more of these things happening out there on the rest of the high street?

Hackett, London

Oh those clever boys at Hackett have done it again.  How different is this scheme to their previous ones eh?  And we are loving this direction.  We're guessing this refers to a particular part of their collections and what a fun narrative.  Perhaps slight references to the 'Avengers'? (the 1960's British Version).  Oh who knows,  but fantastic guys, keep 'em coming; you are rocking the high street....!