Levis, London

If you happen to be passing Levis along Regent st., do poke your head around the main doors and have a look at this installation by Ian Chesney as part of the Fashion and Architecture thing that's happening right now in this area of town (The Regent St. windows project). Unfortunately we were not sent information or invited to the launch of this event.....bizarre right? (was there one?)... so we don't have much information about it all and had to photograph it through the glass. We should have just gone to Thailand like Fergie recently I guess instead. But, ahem..... anyway, that aside, here we have lots of pairs of jeans creating Art. Well, if these guys wont invite us what do they want us to say, eh? Ultimately, of course this installation is quite spectacular. We have also had a look at Uniglo and Duchamp too which also have this kind of stuff installed and which we will post over the next few days.

The Future of Visual Merchandising 2020

(Please note that the Powerpoint Presentation has been moved to the top of the page)

Do you ever wonder what will happen in the future? Invariably, if we are honest the answer is maybe a vague….ish….yes? Not in any great detail perhaps, but we have all had at least at some point, albeit momentary, flash-forwarded (does this expression exist yet?) about what we think our futures will be like, either how we wish it to be or how we think it will be?

The film Metropolis produced in 1927 and directed by Fritz Lang, was "set in a futuristic urban dystopia [and] explored the social crisis between workers and owners in capitalism". "The film [was] set in the massive, sprawling futuristic mega-city Metropolis, where society [was] divided into two classes: one of planners and management........ and one of workers". What is so remarkable about this film is how incredibly accurately the visual of the film was predictive of 21st century city living. OK well, not in the same visual Raygun Gothic style, but certainly in its portrayal of us (as the workers) as the drones were then also portrayed. Incidentally isn’t it also ironic that futuristic technology which is now our contemporary technology was always promised to make our lives easier giving us as much leisure time as we could endure, although in fact, while not quite enslaving us, it has made us work twice as fast for twice as long than we did before? The convenience factor that this technology provides has actually seeped into our daily routines that it is impossible to not to be part of some kind of digital presence.

Zooming ahead in time 70 or so years later to 2002, the neo noir science fiction film Minority Report was set in the year 2054. The films central theme is "the question of free will vs. determinism.....examining whether free will can exist if the future is set and known in advance". Both Metropolis and the Minority Report it seems were particularly prescient (i.e. perceiving events before they occurred) and therefore one has to wonder that by attempting to predict, as in the case here, our own Visual Merchandising industries’ future, are we are in fact predetermining how it will actually be? Similar to the Minority Report's Precog's ("the mutated humans with precognition abilities") can we actually predict what will happen in 2020? Realistically, of course our predictions are based on what we already know now through our experiences, dialogues and interactions. However, will these 2020 predictions drive the way our industry acts through saying what we think will happen as an industry? By contributing to this forecast will it in fact, as with the storyline from the Minority Report become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Who knows? The year 2020 is not that far away and however unintentionally sinister as this may read, it is important to consider for a moment how we ourselves will shape where we think our industry will be.

For this forecast we talked to the movers and shakers, the creatives, the writers, the academics, the suppliers, the designers (many of whom are all of these) to ask them to share their thoughts with us in a one-liner/overview and tell us what they think our industry will look like in the future. As all of the contributors clearly have their fingers firmly on the VM industry pulse, we weren’t surprised not to receive googie or populuxe aesthetic and science fiction-style replies akin to Mars Attacks, Gattaca or Le Voyage Fantastique. What we received were inspired and strategic creative thinking from our industry’s best and their future and therefore futuristic visions of how we will shop and be visually presenting in 2020.

(*Please note that a larger version of this presentation is available on slide share)

Our most grateful thanks to the following contributors who so generously gave us their time and agreed to send us their thoughts. Without the support of these industry specialists, this project would not have been possible:

Faye Mcleod, Erin Thompson, Janet Wardley, Laura O’connor, Glen Foley, Colin Morissey, Logan Shannon, Elsa Sanchez, Jamie Shouli, Paul Symes, Nathan Hicks, Professor Ronald Knoth, Assistant Professor Reginald Rogers, Sarah Bailey, Lisa Mann, Lorna Hall, Gemma Emslie, Alison Embrey Medina, Lyndsey Hubbard, Heather Strang, Lars Laemmerzahl, Janey Rodger, Lynda Murray, Moe Krimat, Jeremy Rucker, Kathryn Scanlon, Millington Associates, Andi Grant, Denise Foley, Gary Porter,Helen Burke, Janey Rodger, Sonya Storm, Pauline Dwelley, Tanya Reynolds, Michael Steward, Jonathan Berlin, Amanda Carr, Professor Leonard Wiltshire, Becky Tyre, Deborah Millington, Maya Stephani.

Burberry, London

We love the feel of the schemes here at Burberry at the moment (the images don't really do it justice), since they have installed these showcase-type spaces honing the eye onto the product shown in each, it really has made a significant difference.  Gone (or almost at least) is the repetition of their motif schemes which we always commented on for them to change.  They probably didn't hear us screaming to them to change it (although we know they read this site), however, that doesn't really matter.  Its done, and an enormously refreshing change too.  We just need to work on getting rid of those large format graphics now, eh?

Wright and Teague, London



Image courtesy and copyright Wright and Teague

We recently included the incredible scheme at Asprey recently which is part of the collaboration between retailers in this are of town and students at The Royal College of Art and Central St. Martins College of Art and Design and featured in this months Vogue Magazine.  The lovely people at Wright and Teague have sent us their images of this incredibly exciting project which we are happy to share with you.  We will swing by anyway and take some images to obtain our own view of this installation however, how exciting is this stuff, hey?  Wonderfully thought through, beautifully executed and incredibly presented.  What more could we ask for.

Image courtesy and copyright Wright and Teague

Etro, London

This is always a very difficult store to photograph as they always pull the shutters down before we have the opportunity to capture what they do.  However, while they have,  over a longer period of time produced some really very innovative schemes, this is possibly not the best one?  Piles of Oranges in at least a kind of pyramidal format have been placed in the background to support the product.  The seated mannequin appears very stilted and in a quite unnatural pose (do you sit like this?) which jars slightly, but the overall impression is of a mid-range brand rather than the luxury brand it is.  Don't you think?

Hermes, London

We're not always huge fans of what the Hermes store along Bond street do in their windows, although this scheme is enormous fun.  With their back to basics, utilitarian scheme, ya' know keeping it real an' all that, we have to admit that it did bring a smile to our faces.  Scrubbing brushes, Belfast sinks, pots and pans, clothes dryers and so on couldn't be further from the clientele that this brand probably attracts, however here it is.  The humour is wonderfully fun and a breathe of fresh air from this luxury brand.

B Store, London

Tucked in right at the end of Saville Row (near Issey Miyake) B store is a rather an elusive store.  Its odd shaped space shoe horned underneath a much larger building, this brand seems to completely work away quietly just doing what its doing - selling product.  There is something quite unusual about this brand although beyond the window scheme we are not sure what it is.  The presentation is always so beautifully produced and cleverly thought through.  Here, we have a vintage piece of furniture filled with what looks like plaster and cut horizontally into three pieces.  Ties have been draped across the top.  There is an almost 'fine art' approach to what these guys do and we are very intrigued.  If you happen to be this end of Saville row or half way down Conduit street maybe take a look and let us know what this brand is all about?

Asprey, London

If you haven't seen this latest installation at Asprey along Bond street, then you really are missing out on a wow factor.  This scheme is quite stunning.  In collaboration with students at the Royal College of Art and Central St. Martins College of Art and Design (you may have seen the article in this months Vogue Magazine) "The students are bringing wit, originality and imagination to the street in a way that London does better than anywhere else in the world." "The window display initiative will run from May 9 to May 15 on Bond Street, Conduit Street and Grafton Street in Mayfair, and also on Fulham Road in Chelsea." 

This scheme was quite difficult to capture in a photograph so we would advise swinging by Bond street to experience it for yourself - stunning.

Liberty, London

Who else would put a Pink Gorilla costume in their windows?  only Liberty..!  What enormous fun..!  These guys really do 'get it' and get it by the bucket load.  With head dresses that Carmen Miranda would envy, suspended Bananas, bales of hay, market stall style writing on the fenestration, this is one very confident retailer.  The wit and humour of the team here at Liberty oozes out of their windows.  The merchandise remains as desirable as ever and if this doesn't bring a smile to your face, seek professional help.  We are huge fans of what these guys do and they really are leading the way through 2011 on every level.  Could someone take the multiple high street brands down to Liberty and make them pay homage to these windows? And lets hope some of the creativity from the guys here somehow transfers by osmosis.

The Gap, London

We know what you're thinking...........yep............every expense spared.

Lladro, London

This kind of product is really quite difficult to present in such large windows, however, we have to admit these guys have done an incredible job just by simply focusing our attention on these pieces with the use of simulated spilling paint.  What a fun concept.  We will check back and keep an eye on these guys as they have been producing such great schemes recently and we cant wait to see what they do next. 

Belstaff, London

We are really growing to like what this brand does more and more.  Here we have the Union flag, within which we have a kind of collage of images that make up the whole.  Of course, it is a remnant from the Royal Wedding last week (we guess?) however its great to see a brand in London, that's not British getting into the mood of it all.  We keep meaning to swing by and take a closer look at the merchandise in this store but time just keeps running away with us.  Maybe this is an opportunity for retailers to consider people like ourselves that just don't have the time very often to spend browsing and purchasing around their sites and to consider what they can do about it? What do you think?

Moschino, London

Have you ever put anything into 'Wingdings' or 'Webdings' into microsoft word documents?  If you type anything into a document in these fonts, symbols appear as your text.  We're not quite sure why this font is even available or what the use of it is?  Well, anyway, the reason we mention this is because it was the first thing that sprang into our minds when we saw these land-of-the-giants tape measures in this scheme at Moschino.  In the mean time we were also chatting to a Bulgarian Graphic designer the other day with whom we discussed what he called 'the gypsy' influence currently in Sofia (his words not ours), however we can begin to see some connections and with a much wider perspective or broader view (or possibly a google earth view)  bring the strands together of what is happening in this scheme.  Whether we are hitting what these guys are trying to communicate is one thing and how their intention is being read is quite another however, this is an interesting scheme none-the-less and they do what they do very well.