Cos, London

Its been quite difficult this week to find creative schemes as everyone is going into Sale it seems.  Thankfully, brands such as Cos who always make such an effort even at this time of the retail calender are being super creative and clever with their schemes.  We really appreciate this.  Not an ounce, hint or smidgen of horrible Red and White graphics in sight.  Phew.

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Bershka, London

We have seen some fantastic schemes at this brand this year and this one is no exception.  It is very difficult to describe to you however.  Parts of the windows here are obscured, others revealed which creates quite an enticing environment.  If you can imagine yourself in a room alone, no one can see you but there is a small hole in one of the walls.  You hear a noise through the hole in the wall so what do you do?  We as humans are nosey creatures so no doubt your instinct is to look through the hole in the wall (as no one else knows what you are doing in this scenario anyway) to see whats happening beyond it. As 'things' which are gradually revealed are far more exciting than if we are merely presented with them (think strip tease effect) this scheme works particularly well as we cant help but look and see what is behind the areas which are obscured.

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Selfridges, London

Well hello beautiful.  Selfridges is absolutely rocking right now with their super creative and uber cool windows.  Its all about beauty this month so if you get a chance do go and visit their fragrance lab too; truly amazing.  Every window here communicates our wide and varied responses to beauty through challenging and questioning our insecurities but contextualising them so incredibly well through immense positive creativity that one can only imagine how they would be insecurities in the first place.  The scheme is of course still rather 'body beautiful' clearly targeting the young and 'juicy' and naturally we understand the 'edit' although this brand are in a place to be a little more challenging and if we are one of the growing fortunate ones ageing wonderfully disgracefully we would like to feel included too.  That can be beautiful too, right?

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Gant, London

We adore the guys at this brand and we do appreciate how hard they work although the recent schemes unfortunately haven't given us enough to talk about?  We say this from a good place of course.  However, not the current scheme.  You have to go and see this one.  We were drawn from one side of Regent street to the other as we couldn't quite make out what was going on here initially, but then realised that these guys have created the most incredible scene underneath a pier complete with ropes, sand and this incredible structure just like a theatrical set or more likely a photo shoot; delicious.  This really does look so good that you must go and see if for yourself and experience it as our images just don't do it the justice it deserves.  (Those Jeans and Shorts on the male mannequins are very revealingly tight)     

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Topshop, London

Rocking the repetition of radiating forms in a gravitational format together with the new Bonaveri collection of mannequins, Aloof, Topshop as always looks incredible and such fun. We thought we should include these guys as no doubt, not only due to the ephemeral nature of Visual Merchandising but also the super speed that the schemes here change, this will be gone very quickly.

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Guess, London

While London sizzles, or actually sweats in the unusually hot temperatures right now, Guess get it just right with their beach scene complete with tropical flowers and cocktail bar at their store along Regent street right now.

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Moschino, London

We're not quite getting this scheme at Moschino, do you?  Little people on a motorbike?  OK, well we asked for humour and bringing it back to the high street but what is this about?  We are more perplexed than laughing or even raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow to give a knowing look.

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Puma, London

Right is Pink and Left is Blue is the strap line at the Puma along the iconic Carnaby street right now. What is difficult to appreciate from the images is that the graphic covering this building appears to be melting into the street; probably just like us all in this London heat.  Anyway, great windows, clean and very simple which we guess is promoting their Suede classic and tricks trainers. 

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Scotch and Soda, London

Paper windmills are making a significant (well a few retailers are doing it) impact on the high street here in London at the moment, from Jack Wills, Habitat to Scotch and Soda.  We're still hoping for a bit of refreshing clever Summer humour to knock us senseless however or even a bit of political satire.....oh go on then treat us to a save-the-something-cause......anything beyond the (not to say that this scheme is not of any worthy quality) ever so extraordinarily ordinary that we are seeing right now, hopefully some day soon? In the meantime here we have vertical lines, repetition of......blah..blah. blah....Yawn.

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Car Shoe, London

Working its way through the various car parts is Car Shoe right now.  We occasionally pass by here and hope for something a little bit edgy or even just a smidgen bit of humour (something so missing on the high street for so long) but we guess this formula will keep them busy for quite sometime yet.  Sigh.

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Illamasqua, London

We haven't been here for absolutely ages although we do adore the creativity at this brand.  What is so refreshing about Illamasqua is that they still appear to retain that urban London gritty-ness about them which so many brands here in the centre of it all have done and gone on to be so enormously respected and enjoyed by us even if they eventually were bought by another brand in either Asia or the US; but it all began here and this is what we (and those who buy these brands) buy in to, isn't it?  The generation of these 'things' is one of the few things we have left.

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Liberty, London

In true curatorial style that this brand are synonymous with and linking in with the current Matisse exhibition at the Tate Modern, the iconic Artists cut-outs informs this concept.  In conjunction with the super cool guys at Studio-Boo an under the sea installation using their layering technique in Liberty patterned paper supports the gorgeous products on sale here. 

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Penhaligon, London

Tralala. If you happen to pass Penhaligon right now then do go and take in a whiff of their latest offering.  We really do like this brand even if we don't always say nice things about their visuals but they are of course of the highest quality.  It is both slightly odd and somehow refreshing (although we really do dislike motifs and hearts in particular as you probably know) to see this at this time of year.  We also love the work of Meadham Kirchoff although it is quite difficult to take this as seriously as these designers clearly take themselves.  Maybe this will be a hit, but Trala-fricking-la??  Cringe.

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