Chanel, London

..........and here's that shade of Blue again.  Chanel have been very visually poor for such a long time, only really noted as we would have expected this brand to be a leader on the visual front.  However, with the launch of their new store along Bond street recently, this scheme is definitely one of their better ones.  We still don't like these pin head mannequins, but the we 'get' the narrative here and the scene does actually work very well.  There is a VM God after all?

Tiffany, London

Repetition of these beautifully produced radiating forms are absolutely on trend right now.  OK, well this type of Asian paper parasol has been done countless times before, but the mini scale with just one piece of gorgeous jewellery highlights the luxury of this particular brand, don't you think?  We're also seeing this shade of Blue quite frequently at the moment around town, particularly at some of the Luxe brands so no doubt the laggards will be following shortly?

Guess, London

Globalisation and mass brands are not exactly our favourite things to look at, particularly when so little skill is involved in implementing schemes such as this.  The layers of graphics of course work very well suspended in a 'gravity' fomat but the images themselves are of the usual hideous lifestyle that make our you-know-whats clench.  Still, there is a market for this kind of malarkey and some people clearly love this stuff; just not us.

Juicy Couture, London

This is a much cleaner scheme at Juicy right now, well certainly compared to their usual installations.  OK, well it is just a panel with letter form and a vinyl on the fenestration so hardly revolutionary but certainly much better than the stuff we've seen before.  We just wish they would dust once in a while.  Dust bunnies galore in this store along Regent street.

Harrods, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright Minki Balinki

Have you seen the delicious handbags currently at Harrods yet?  Those ever talented guys at Minki Balinki were commissioned by Loewe to reproduce their cult classic Amazona bag alongside the likes of Mulberry, Fendi and Chloe.  The bag itself is produced from these highly reflective tools suspended by 132 vertical transparent wires from a bespoke steel grid to recreate this giant handbag.  Absolutely stunning, don't you think?

Lanvin, London

Now this is an interesting scheme from Lanvin.  So often we are really quite critical of their schemes as they aren't always the best executed ones in the world, although this is a bit of a winner in some ways.  We love the boxy dogs in leopard which look almost like pieces of Memphis furniture, wouldn't you say?  But, how tight are those trousers?  Ouch..! squeaky.  

SFD, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright SFD

We're big fans of this retail supplier and how fantastic to view their amazing showroom.  With the recent launch of their new ranges, SFD have also just produced this incredible new scheme; the Art of Retail.  The scheme features four of their White mannequins with cans of different coloured inks placed above them and slowly dripping down onto the mannequins heads.  As is the unpredictable nature of the drips each figure looks completely different and over a series of weeks the cans will be refilled slowly building up layers to create four uniquely covered mannequins.  Why cant we see more of these things happening out there on the rest of the high street?

Hackett, London

Oh those clever boys at Hackett have done it again.  How different is this scheme to their previous ones eh?  And we are loving this direction.  We're guessing this refers to a particular part of their collections and what a fun narrative.  Perhaps slight references to the 'Avengers'? (the 1960's British Version).  Oh who knows,  but fantastic guys, keep 'em coming; you are rocking the high street....! 

Retail and Visual Merchandising Calendar, 2014

As the nature of the Visual Merchandising business demands that we work often many months in advance and key trends Spring / Summer 2014 already out there in the public domain, what better way to help you plan ahead than your very own 2014 Calendar?  This one produced by the ever creative Red Border highlights not only the key events but reminders well in advance of them happening in order to help you prepare.  Whether you are a small retailer or a global player this fantastic tool really helps to keep things organised.  Launched today, go and check out the Red Border site and order your very own http://www.redborder.co.uk 

Issey Miyake, London

We haven't included this brand in absolutely ages, probably as they don't do very much visually but the merchandise is always so incredible.  This light box installation hasn't changed in a few years but now and again when the brand launch a new special product we see at least little excitement happening.  Here we have a promotion for the Pleats Please perfume which we are guessing has just been launched.

On the streets, London

We just loved this sign at the beginning of Carnaby street that we just had to share it with you.  We regularly look at what is happening on the streets as well as within the windows and this key element to the journey to Sale looks particularly cool, don't you think?

Prada, London

This an interesting scheme at Prada with their use of both horizontal and vertical lines.  The merchandise has changed slightly since we took this image a few days ago but we prefer this version ourselves.  With their almost concrete-like background Prada is cool particularly cool.  So many of the luxe brands of course are beginning to show their A/W collections but in this particularly freakishly hot weather here in London, fur jackets and heavy coats are look rather odd.  Are they actually selling much of it?  Who knows?

Brooks Brothers, London

In this sweltering London heat, Brooks Brothers have hit 'it' right on the nail with this scheme.  A tropical paradise and the holiday season is summed up in this scheme.  If you are in London right now, a big cooler box filled with cold drinks is just what you will need.  This vintage coke one is super cool.