Stella McCartney, London

"Every man a Rembrandt" proclaimed the Craft Master paint-kit following on from Max S. Klein, owner of the Palmer Paint Company and the original inventor of Painting by Numbers in the 1950's. Here the visual team have used the concept to form the back drop to the product displayed with White sprayed headless mannequins. There was quite a resurgence of these kits in the early 1990's although they seemed to have faded into the background again, at least temporarily. This is possibly the best window scheme from this company that I have seen and it is also something I don't remember seeing previously in other commercial spaces before. The concept has also been further developed with the word YES placed at the centre of the image - its not quite clear what the relevance of this is? Anyway, I feel that this concept perhaps would have worked better as a series of visual images, perhaps as used in department stores, but thankfully this brand got there first, so too late now I guess.

Nicole Farhi, London

I do like to follow this teams windows schemes and have done for now for quite some time. After the launch of the Nicole Farhi 2010 spring window partnership with illustrator Esther Coombs earlier this year (you can see images of them on this site), featuring iconic London monuments as over sized graphics; with the BT Tower and Big Ben framed in neon Perspex and the houses of parliament directly onto the glass. May sees Benedetta Mori-Ubaldini's magical animals enter their stores. The Milanese sculptor is well known for her innovative and extraordinarily realistic wire work. Each piece starts life as flat ‘chicken wire’ which is gradually manipulated by hand, the pieces are twisted and joined together to give a seamless appearance with no internal structure. We are seeing more and more of these collaborations happening in London this year and this is certainly a leap forward. Thankfully, the team at Nicole Farhi are pioneering the way and this really is making a huge contribution to the visual industry.

Elephant Parade London 2010

"Elephants on Parade is London's largest Art event on record". All across central London, these incredible pieces are raising awareness and funds to save the Asian Elephant from extinction. Each one of the 250 Elephants has been painted by a different artist or celebrity and mini Elephants can be purchased from Selfridges, Carnaby st. and Greenwich Market. If you cant make it to any of these places, perhaps visit them on line at http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/ A worthy cause and great fun. These kind of installations are part of what makes London so exciting. I found myself spending hours trying to find the next one to photograph to share with you. As for the relevance to store windows, well, check out National Geographic's store on Regent st.

Rage, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

A few years ago I watched the building of this store on the National Geographic programme on television in conjunction with the building of Ski Dubai. It probably stood out as an interesting site due to the ski goggle entrance to the store - this is one of the only stores with such an unusual entrance to it in this mall. If ski stuff is your thing then naturally this is the place to come, although unfortunately the presentation is perhaps a little poor? OK well, 'they' have used a motif - and you may already know how I feel about such things - although this site is quite unique and I do actually like the store's frontage. It is such a shame that they seem to have lost momentum in the presentation and being sited opposite a large supermarket chain only cheapens the view. I am happy that they are still here however, but a little bit of attention to the how the product is presented would really go a long way. This is now sadly my final day here in Dubai and the wonderful warmth of the UAE. With the long and dreaded journey back to London awaiting and hours of searching and labelling the masses of images I have collected, I am sad to leave this mecca to consumerism and all that it offers. However, I have missed how Green London appears after such journeys and I cant wait to rediscover the latest store window offerings there.

Madinat, Dubai

Moving on from the enormous Malls here in Dubai, there are also, of course much smaller enterprises. Here we have the Madinat, placed very conveniently near the luxury hotels, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, the Mirage and the Burj Al Arab. Very similar type 'souks' exist in the old part of Dubai near the creek and this is perhaps a rather sanitised version. The majority of clientele seem to be tourists and visitors looking for those very carefully chosen souvenirs. I am not sure I like this version as part of the pleasure of the original version of these places is rummaging around, good old fashioned bargaining and a banter with the tradesmen. The spice souk is far more exciting although here one isn't hassled by someone trying to flog a faux Rolex, Versace handbag or a pashmina - isn't that part of the fun though? And me in a pashmina? Anyway, small stores sell everything from perfumes to antiques here and if you prefer something less edgy then this is the place for you. If not, get yourself a cab down to the creek and experience the spice souk, the guys there are far more fun yet incredibly gentle, if not just a little more cheeky - wonderful.

House of Aoud, Mall of the Emirates

I noticed this store a few years ago while on a visit here in Dubai and the tunnel 'like' space certainly drew me in. In Dubai, Arab perfume is big news. Creating that essential scent is one of the most magical things to see and these guys certainly do it well. I always wonder what would happen if, for example, we all were forced to wear the same thing? If we were covered head to toe in Black, how would we define ourselves? Well, I suppose as human beings and being intrinsically creative, one person would add a belt and another a collar and so on. Here in Dubai, females don't have this luxury and one of the ways in which they seem to at least make an understated statement, is through hand bags, shoes and perfume. To western senses the perfumes are very heavy and I know from previous experience in buying this stuff that what smells so wonderful here in the heat and warmth is quite choking in the London cold and wet weather. However, a whiff from the bottle is enough to stimulate the senses and maybe I will just swing by and purchase a small memento of my travels. In the meantime, I do really like this space with its illuminated arch forms and out sized fixtures displaying the product. The marble and Gold are perhaps a little too much if this were a Western store, although here in Dubai it works well and it really is a treat to view.

More Restaurant, Dubai

During my stay here in Dubai, I couldn't resist but find out more about 'More'. Having read so many reviews about these restaurants, some of them incredibly negative and some absolutely positive I couldn't wait to find out for myself what these places were actually like. I don't usually take any notice of reviews anyway as I am not precious when it comes to restaurants. The company I am with is far more important to me and I'm certainly not a restaurant critic. The food and service were absolutely fine. What I am interested in is the place itself. This restaurant is highly unusual and there is an interesting trend happening here. In this More restaurant there is also a certain amount of merchandise being presented. This is possibly the first time I have viewed mannequins in a restaurant and therefore I felt compelled to include this to show you. In the centre of the restaurant is a suspended 'table' from cables attached to the ceiling. Mannequins have been placed at one end of the suspended 'table' onto which merchandise has been placed. I wouldnt normally put fashion per se into a restaurant environment and it is a little disconcerting to see this as although this is an indirect sales angle, I almost want to forget shopping for a moment and concentrate on the atmosphere of the restaurant tself. This, of course is Dubai and the land of shopping so I guess any opportunity to get us to buy More (no pun intended) is an opportunity not to be missed. Anyway, do check out their restaurants, and if you aren't shopped out, maybe make an additional purchase too.

Salam, Wafi Mall, Dubai

The Salam department store really is one of the best department stores I have seen in a long time. Beautiful glossy floors, superb lighting, beautiful merchandise and all presented so wonderfully. The day I visited I was virtually the only person in the store which was quite an uneasy and odd feeling. I actually picked up some au de toilette and accidentally dropped the top which crashed to the floor and echoed loudly across the store. I'm not used to customer less department stores where the sales associates outnumber the customers, but this is Dubai. As I have mentioned in previous entries, people shop in a very different way here and don't simply go out and buy a pair of shoes to spend a few dirhams. When many of the clientele to these places shop they spend thousands in one go (I'm not one of those customers however) and therefore these places remain huge empty homages to consumerism most of the time. Two customers and they have a 'rush' on. However, I was drawn to this store because of the incredible window installations. Someone here knows how to present merchandise with humour, intelligence and skill. The Salam website is very glossy and their images are a dream to view. Its just such a shame that so many of these places are empty as, at least for me, watching people shop, the music and so on create an exciting atmosphere and unfortunately any sense of fun is truly missing. Still, it looks fabulous.

The One, Burjuman, Dubai

I do love home ware. Is that wrong to admit? One of my favourite places that I always visit when I come to Dubai is The One in the Burjuman Mall. If there is one place that does home ware really well it is here. One of my other favourite places for home ware is also New York. America (or at least New York) really do it so well. OK well a lot of it is reproduction stuff and I do prefer original furniture whenever finances allow but the presentation is done so well. I think the reason I am seduced is because these room sets always give a sense of space. Something we lack in London I think and I just love beautiful things. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a hoarder of 'stuff' and I don't have cupboards full of things which I got bored of and are just waiting to hit eBay. But to quote William Morris, "only surround yourself with things which are either beautiful or useful" is my mantra. If I buy something I also throw or recycle something so that my personal space is not overflowing. Anyway, if you enjoy even just looking at this kind of stuff, do go and check out The One's gorgeous merchandise and allow yourself to be seduced.

Kenzo, Burjuman, Dubai

I am always strangely drawn to Kenzo whenever I see it in London as it seems such a mysterious brand to me that I know so little about. I suppose it just doesn't scream from the high street, but always seems to be there. Kenzo, of course, is now part of the portfolio of the ever increasing LVMH group but I strangely never really see anything of it apart from the ubiquitous perfume adverts. Also, the London store has one of those omnipresent security grills so sadly used in so many stores in the 'thieving' West. Here in Dubai of course, this is not a problem. The scheme in this store did grab my attention (possibly because I didn't have view it through a security grill) and on closer inspection contains what looked like pieces of old manuscript with writing in fountain pen which have been 'stuck' to form a backdrop. This actually works very well with the merchandise and the white gloss mannequins. However, I am not so sure about the bottles suspended from the branches around it. This seems rather an afterthought to me rather than a significant part of the scheme and perhaps some other prop would have been more appropriate? What do you think?

Bershka, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

Here in the Mall of the Emirates is the latest offering from Bershka. I have to admit that I didn't warm to the brand initially when I first saw the store back in London, however, they have been doing some interesting stuff recently that warranted another look. Of course, the brand is part of the House of Zara and the Inditex group. Although what is interesting is how different this brand is from its sister company. So often high street multiples seem to rationalise their spending particularly during a recession and use the similar shop fit across their brands in order to keep cost to a minimum regardless of who they are targeting. Anyway, Bershka clearly have their own defined personality which shines through in this store. Here we have a pseudo, possibly American highway scene? with printed backdrop and Oil drum carrying a pile of merchandise. The miniature VW and the illuminated lettering spelling BSK placed between the mannequins and the backdrop are fun props that complete the scenario.

Centrepoint, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

I found Centrepoint here in the Mall of the Emirates (and incidentally they are also in the Burjuman) and have included them here as the props that they have presented are very similar to those in the Science Museum back in London. These work very well as part of my explanation of repetition of form, shape and so on to my students. I do often take my students to the Science Museum to have a look at the various mathematical structures that they have explored there and presented so it was quite a pleasure to find store windows that have used them to support their merchandise. Of course the pyramidal format has been used if we look at the product display dynamics and although the merchandise is not the most exciting, these things are great to use to explain the display process with the use of hexagons and pentagons etc. As with a lot of these 'local' brands, I am not absolutely familiar with it, however, what they do, they do very well, and if you need to explore the fundamentals of product handling, this is a great place to start.

Bugatti B>More, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai

Bugatti B>More is another brand that I had never heard of until I visited the Mall of the Emirates and WAFI Mall here in Dubai. I have had a quick search around the net to find out a little more about them as I do actually like the layout of thier retail spaces. Unfortunately, all I can find it the usual marketing malarky from the Malls themselves rather than information about the company itself in which I was rather quite interested. It transpires however that this brand is actually a multi-brand provider rather than a brand in itself. According to the Mall marketing, Bugatti B>More is a "multi-brand fashion boutique offering men and women's clothing" and apparently Bugatti B>More "symbolizes choice, preference, class, elegance and fashion". I felt that it was a shame that the company don't seem to have their own philosophy or statement about themselves for us to understand where they are coming from. The marketing statements about them sadly say so little about the brand itself. Whenever a marketing statement declares that a brand represents 'class' it does ring alarm bells, at least for me, to ensure I steer clear. However, the product presentation is actually very well done and I felt that the open front with merchandise simply placed was so incredible to my western eyes. This would last two seconds in a British Mall, the merchandise would be snatched and on ebay within the hour. This is, however Dubai and the penalty for doing such a thing is zero tolerance and not an attractive option. Maybe there are lessons to be learned here?