Christian Louboutin, London

If you haven't seen the current Christian Louboutin Exhibition at the Design Museum then you really are missing a treat.  This is such a fantastic show that we are tempted to go back again and take another look.  The collection of Louboutins products is absolutely fascinating, drawing on inspiration from Architecture, Design and the city amongst other key areas.  Footwear has been created from a wide variety materials from Bark to Fish skin and leather to metal; remarkable stuff.  Anyway, if you do manage to have a 'dental appointment' this week, then swing by and take a look.  We particularly love the virtually impossibly wearable fetish wear placed inside bell jars in a darkened space - stunning. 

Damien Hirst, London

For some bizarre reason, while we've seen Hirst's work countless times, we haven't ever seen it in the flesh - so to speak.  We hadn't realised how enormous some of these pieces actually are and very impressive too.  We're on a culture mission at the moment, soaking up everything London has to offer and loving every minute of it.  OK, well this show is a little pricey but if you are in need of information, inspiration or just an excuse to get out of the office, then you could do no worse then pop over to the Tate Modern and see this exhibition.........plus all of the vast amounts of other Art works here also.  These are incredible places to top up on that much needed culture in Visual Merchandising on the high street, and consider how we can apply and build on what we see in order to erode the literal use of work like this that we see so much of.  What we mean by that is that we wouldn't wish to simply drop a Damien Hirst lookie-likie piece into the middle of a department store, but consider and unravel the thinking behind the pieces produced in order to inform our own design processes. 

Hermes, London

If you haven't been to the Hermes exhibition at 6, Burlington Gardens then why not leave work a little earlier today and swing by to be inspired?  The boss wont mind and we wont tell anyone if you do.  We've already visited this twice as it is such a wonderful venue and such an interesting story.  Also, being able to actually watch and interact with the Artisans here while they are working and making this product is quite mesmerising.  You wont be disappointed.

Penhaligon, London

We are really trying to be constructive, but cu'mon guys make an effort?  We love the product here but clearly budgets are, as usual, as tight as Greece's annual spend right now and 'voila', here's the celebration of the UK's moment of historic glory in a 3-d cardboard graphic crown; every expense spared and any enthusiasm communicated like wet lettuce surrounding a fantastic product.  The saddest words are always......'another missed opportunity'.  We doubt that there will be another Jubilee like this in our life time no matter how hard we are working on living for ever (although so far so good).  Therefore, unfortunately this scheme will be relegated to the history of one of the ones 'of how not to celebrate an historic moment'.  Maybe Penhaligon are saving their budget for an amazing Olympic scheme?   Fingers crossed then.  In the meantime, we're reminded of the work of Craig Damrauer who produces the amazing mathematical equations such as Love = Like x Like, and April = March + Optimism to name just a couple, although perhaps in the case of this scheme Fantastic Product + Cheap Scheme = Brand Damage?   Or, what we think + what we write = Telling it like it is?

   

Boodles, London

Its such a shame that Boodles haven't really embraced the moment right now and captured the zeitgeist in their scheme. Apart from this vague nod to a pending remarkable event,  simply utilising what they already have in their windows year in, year out with a bit of bunting and a few graphics 'chucked' in is almost begrudgingly produced and is rather half hearted, don't you think?.  We're just telling it like it is  spoil sports.  Maybe they have a spectacular Olympic scheme pending? 

Energie, London

We love the graphics at Energie and Miss. Sixty along Carnaby St. at the moment.  This collaged effect of a combination of what appears like screen printing, news print images and silhouettes works so incredibly well don't you think?  This has a kind of Vivienne Westwood / Malcolm McClaren feel to it (although not as aggressive) but nonetheless really does make this end of this historic street look cool again.  It is a shame that 'they' had to put a mid season sale vinyl on the fenestration, although that's a commercial enterprise for you.  However, these guys are rocking right now and we keep coming back to see what they do next.

Hamleys, London

Hamleys has probably one of the most spectacular Jubilee schemes we've seen happening right now; and very impressive it is too.  The image above is made of, we would guess, thousands of pieces of Lego; bonkers, eh?  Do go and have a look at this little gem as it really is amazing.  We would love to know how many people worked on this and how long it took?  Also, how on earth did they get it in this window?  Incredible stuff.  Hamleys are going for it this year with this giant image of Her Maj' against the Union flag backdrop, rotating crowns and and this rather impressive graphic image of the Palace, making us proud to be British.  We can only wonder what these guys will do for the Olympics?  What an incredible year for London and the UK.

Jubilee Schemes, 2012

Well, it looks like London is notching up a few gears with the pending Jubilee and its related window schemes right now.  We're going to show you what we've spotted this week around town so far plus of course a few extra bits.  There are some incredible Diamond Jubilee schemes happening, and of course a few schemes which are a little more 'Diamond Geezer' than Diamond Jubilee.  Thankfully, these events are not only a time for reflection on where we are right now but also a welcome relief from the global corporate schemes we see everywhere else which plague us.  So......goodness knows what the rest of you around the world are doing right now visually?  Its all crown jewels, Union flags, congratulations messages and pictures of Her Maj' happening here.

Lanvin, London

The windows at Lanvin are always so difficult to capture well so we can never really do them justice.  However,  while we are not massive fans of their schemes, this one actually is probably one of their better ones.  Mannequins stood on giant wind-up gramophones in front of large mirrors doesn't shout very  loudly to us or actually make any sense.  Maybe they are so abstract that they are beyond our comprehension?  Well, no, not really, they just don't mean anything, although interesting on some level we guess?

Daks, London

We're not sure how we feel about the latest offering from Daks right now.  We want to love what they do here, but we're not actually sure if we even like it?  This is a difficult one to describe, apart from racquets and balls on a kind of Abacus-like structure.  Maybe the next one will have something a little more interesting or maybe they're saving for a Jubilee extravaganza.....fingers crossed then.

Etro, London

Etro have been producing some fairly interesting schemes recently.  Interesting in as much as they have been producing schemes reminiscent of tableaux very much along the lines of traditional Wax Museums, i.e. telling a story.  Here we have a kind of drawing room scheme complete with 'traditional' paintings and obligatory mirror above the fireplace.  However,  the difference here to tableaux is that the viewer would catch themselves within the scheme via the mirror and therefore become part of this impossible scene.  Unfortunately the angle of the mirror doesn't allow this here and therefore an opportunity is lost.  Still, these guys produce quality schemes (although we don't like the mannequins that they use)

Max Mara, London

Max Mara always produce great quality schemes and of course all of the product dynamics are in place.  While of course the product is key, isnt this a dull scheme?  OK well we accept that the scheme shouldnt be competing with the product, but something a little more interesting would have been appreciated.....what do you think?

Moschino, London

Moschino do seem to like their out-sized props, dont you think?  This is quite a fun scheme with their larger than life fabric boots and shoes placed in amongst these humongous bags suggesting a possible fun girlie evening just about to be had (albeit possibly by drag Queens?)  Anyway, poking aside, this looks great although doesnt the sofa have a little whiff of Ikea about it?