Louis Vuitton, London

I have been waiting months and months for this store along Bond St. here in London to open. However, due to the amount of time these guys have been working on this site I am sure we will see something quite spectacular. I had been thinking that I would dearly love to be a fly on the wall in this site and just by chance the other evening, the large format graphics covering the site were lifted enough to be able to get the tiniest of sneak previews. Well, I'm hardly going to be invited to the launch (although I have hinted enough here several times) in order to bring you the latest, however, this view was free and to say it looked quite delicious is an understatement. I did have to climb onto the barriers a la paparazzi style to take photos, but who cares. It does look incredible and I'm sure LVMH would want to keep it secret (and rightly so) so I wont share too much but go along with the tease. With a store like this which will be in all of the magazines and newspapers for months it was a pleasure to see even a snippet of a view. Anyway, check the store out soon............I feel a launch coming on..!

Liberty, London

One can't help but love what Liberty is doing at the moment. Scheme after scheme they come up with the goods. This one is no exception. Model soldiers and tanks are aimed at a t-shirt with an image of an explosion printed on it - out sized by comparison to its aggressors and displayed in one of the windows in this scheme. Hundreds of ears placed in rows form the backdrop in another with product placed on top of tiny bars of soap. Repetition of newsprint declaring the "Liberated Press 2010" containing images of William Morris (I think it is anyway - I cant quite see the details on the images, but it would make sense and link to the Liberty designs) are overlaid on top of an image of a topless female. Sometimes irreverent yet always wonderfully produced, how could anyone not like what this team are doing right now?

Tiffany, London

I am always quite amazed that this company always produce such amazing windows in such a limited space. Time again Tiffany do produce the most remarkable schemes for such a tiny product which is quite difficult to show well. Here we have a series of windows using balloons and ribbons with the use of three pyramidal structures against a sky background. Our eyes and imaginations fill in the gaps between each of these spaces and that is the genius of what they do. The pyramidal structures appear almost like a futuristic cityscape of some fantasy place somewhere. I even love the shadows that the ribbons create. Beautifully executed.

Moschino, London

I cant help but really like what this brand does. OK, well I hate the use of the heart motif personally, as any of my students will tell you, although their schemes are usually such good fun. I also have an inclination to the out sized land of the giants stuff, and the use of the eye glasses / spectacles (depending where you live) here are wonderful. How simple is this scheme. With a scheme that is so simply produced I do tend to look more at the detail and actually the attention to detail is superb. I felt that this has a kind of retrospective feel to it and for some reason Cindy Sherman came to my mind (don't all shout at me). Of course, not in an erotic or sexual way, but as if these female mannequins had been captured as part of a much greater narrative. Naturally this is open to interpretation and it can mean whatever one wants it to mean, although perhaps these are more of a witty parody of a media image? And I am a male, after all, viewing a female. However I couldn't help feeling that there was some story beyond this scheme that I'm not privy too, although that's possibly because I actually want it to have some meaning, who knows?

Harvey Nichols, London

One of my favourite department stores in the world has to be Harvey Nichols. I thoroughly enjoy what they do and how they present themselves. Here the team have implemented an abstract tube like structure weaving its way through the run of front windows and to which a variety of materials have been attached. This is possibly not my favourite concept / scheme that this team have produced (which are just my thoughts) - I am not quite sure how I feel about it, however with the use of Black sprayed facially stylised mannequins possibly by Patina V? look quite stunning. The product is as always, beautifully presented and I will of course continue to watch what they do and share this with you.

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.