H and M, London

There was a huge amount of excitement in London's West end with the launch of Versace for Ebay this week.....oops, for H and M this week.  The queues were literally around the block waiting to buy this stuff.  We saw customers with literally bags full of this hideous 'bling' at the Tube stations throughout the day.  It seems H and M have cracked a fantastic promotional angle the likes of which we tend to only see outside Apple stores before the launch of yet another I-something.  Anyway,  we hope this week that you managed to get your one-of-each-size purchases to sell on Ebay too.

Fred Perry, London

We haven't checked out this brand for quite some time.  Well, not since the installation of the Amy Winehouse launch quite a few months ago now.  But anyway.  During 2011 we have seen quite a few references to trophy heads, whether, real - the skulls of them with horns or recreated in fabric - and tracked this trend throughout the year.  We saw knitted ones in Anthropologie last December in NYC next to the Rockefeller centre (or center? depending on where you are reading this)  and we do love them.  Here at Fred Perry, we have a combination of knit and fabric in conjunction with the the iconic laurel wreath for horns which is of course link very closely with this brand.  Great fun.

Gant, London

Were you at Gants 'Rugger' launch last night?  If you weren't invited then you really did miss an incredible evening in the Coolest place in London right now.

We weren't expecting what we found from this brand which seem to be synonymous with the American 'preppy' look, but....we really were quite stunned.  This brand have shifted, and incredibly so, with their 'Rugger' launch, from the high street generic male-look to a place which is unconventional, non-routine, anti-bourgeois, fabulously uncomfortable, youthful, thin, non-sentimental and non-rational - we love it.

These guys are flirting with living on the edge but in such a considered and intelligent way.  They wont reveal how to achieve their 'Cool' (this changes all the time anyway) however they have presented an incredible way of shopping that we just simply have to come back and look a lot more.

Louis Vuitton, London

Here's what you have all been waiting for.  Can we now please stop sending the stalking e-mails?  We know you have been waiting to see this scheme for ages, and here it is.  We saw the guys implementing this the other night but decided to wait and see the delivered and completed presentation to view it in all its glory so that we could be mesmerised by the spectacle of it all.  These guys always get it so right, don't they?  The attention to detail in their schemes is just superb and they simply and seemingly effortlessly deliver.  Of course, there is a vast amount of work behind these schemes and plenty of late nights too.   This brand wont be going into 'Sale' so we guess this is the final scheme of 2011.  They have produced some spectacular schemes of the highest quality throughout 2011 and we guess the next time we show this brand here will either be New York in December, Paris in January or the newest and latest scheme of 2012. 

Energie, London

We were quite pleasantly surprised to see this scheme, in part at Energie and the other bits in Ms. Sixty.  These guys have done some great stuff this year and clearly have their fingers on the pulse of what has been happening and what is happening on the high street from Trend agencies,  Lux brands all the way to the multiples.  These guys seem to always be able to make their windows look more like a boutique than a multiple, which we love.  Who wants to see the same scheme pumping out of every London street (and several times on the same street) anyway?  White seems to be the thread flowing through Christmas schemes in London right now together with either taxidermy/faux/re-created animals and in particular birds, so these guys have got it bang on.  Of course this is not the whole scheme from these brands so you'll just have to go and have a look yourself to see how this little puzzle hangs together.  Get yourself down to their Carnaby street store and check them out?

Banana Republic, London

We really do like this scheme at Banana Republic in the centre of town right now.  Doesn't it feel like everyone (in this case the mannequins) have just arrived for a party at a gorgeous house somewhere?  We do love this concept and with huge baubles to boot how could we not?  We would have liked to have seen each window with a different feel or room however, but, well that's globalisation and multiples on the high street for you.  Still, its clean, sharp and fun too (just paint the bottom of your wires and get a mop on that floor though?)

Moschino, London

Oh my.  What can we possibly say beyond VM God help us?  The concept is here, but execution certainly needs some (a lot) of attention.  Don't you think?  We quite like the concept here, but giant hands with saggy 'gloves' with ring bags just isn't doing it for us.  How about you?

Reiss, London

Only a few hangover memories went through Terrys mind the day after the secret night time window party and how trying to fart the tune to 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' had perhaps not been such a good idea afterall. 

Gucci, London

We're keeping our fingers crossed that this isn't the Christmas scheme for this lux brand.  We're not big fans of motifs and Gold stars for Christmas has just tipped us over the edge.  We're not sure why this brand have re-produced something that we have seen countless times from the 'innovators to the laggards' the world over, year in year out.  Oh dear, run out of ideas Gucci?

Nicole Farhi, London

If you haven't seen the latest scheme at Nicole Farhi, do pop down to Conduit st. and take a look.  Besides their incredible fairly new site and only the third scheme in these windows, which quite honestly are incredibly difficult to work with, the guys here really have made this space their own.   We've been following them for a while now and they just get better and better.

Fortnum and Mason, London

Were you at the launch of the Fortnum and Mason window scheme last night?  No?, well you really did miss a corker of an evening.  As we have come to expect and anticipate, the scheme here at Her Maj's grocer is quite superb so you wont be disappointed if you do manage to view the spectacle for yourself - and you really must.  Don't limit yourself to just the windows however as this scheme flows right through the store.  Burlesque dancers in suspended illuminated cages hang throughout the atrium.  We can only marvel at  how they got them there..!  But anyway, do go and have a look at this wonderfully glitzy scheme and marvel at the level of detail that these guys go to.  If you want to know 'how its all done' and how to handle product with attention to detail, as always go and have a look at Fortnum's windows.

Zara, London

Zara is looking so exciting right now (at least in London's West End)  Here, the guys really understand 'old school' humour of window display, rather than the rather ubiquitous Visual Merchandising.  It is so refreshing to see fun schemes in global multiples, even if its not what the brand is about ultimately.  Anyway, here's a little breath of fresh air blowing out there on Oxford Street.

Harvey Nichols, London

We do love what the guys at Harvey Nichols do, and they are certainly one of the world leaders in Visual Merchandising in conjunction with Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Selfridges and so on.  What these (and Selfridges highlight...and) we seem to be missing around town right now are the nuances and humour - waspish and cruel (as in Barneys in New York) or otherwise seems to be missing just about everywhere - but these guys are always cool.  Here at the former 'Chicken-Royale-residence-of-the-hairy-Qween-of-slops' we see ever better and ever more clever solutions to ever more difficult issues of that Christmas scheme - these guys always seem to come up with the goods.  Where do these guys get their inspiration from and perpetual humour, eh?