Benetton, London

I rarely photograph Benetton or even really take any notice of what they do visually, I suppose because the brand seems, at least to me to have lost its way somewhere along the line. When Oliviero Toscani's photographs of a Nun and Priest in a passionate embrace, the newly born baby still bloody or the Aids victims on death beds, gave this brand a real edge which seems to have disappeared somewhere along the line. This is a shame as I guess the brand is now more than brightly coloured sweaters (and mountains of them) that filled these sites last time I shopped there. Anyway, I did find myself drawn to this scheme although I think I would have laid this out quite differently and bearing in mind the height of the space here in an absolutely prime location, I think I would have perhaps really filled this space with these wooden discs to create a much stronger statement. The use of the grey tone in windows does shout luxury to me (even if the product is not), however I feel this is lost as while in essence the scheme and idea is there, the execution of it could do with a huge dose of drama and creativity.

Michael Kors, London

Michael Kors here in London oozes the typical American aesthetic. The interior space of this store with its white glossy surfaces and and pure white figures is a world away from the hustle and bustle of central London. Within this interior space we can see the use of designated spaces with the change in floor surfaces and low level lighting in conjunction with clearly identified focal and pause points. Lighting has been used to highlight certain areas within the space, particularly the figures wearing the merchandise which draws us toward them. Kors seems to veer towards the use of headless figures which I feel looks a little odd for this type of brand, particularly in the previous scheme further below, however perhaps this is an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, who knows. The current window scheme uses multiple chains as the backdrop, which seems to be popular currently amongst some of the designer stores here in London.

Stella McCartney, London

I find it quite difficult to describe Stella McCartney's visual communication concepts. Stella is such an Uber designer and I am always a little surprised by these schemes in her London Store. Figures have been placed in a linear and repetitive format and Brown paper bags with painted faces of a variety of characters from clowns to Lions have been placed over their heads. I really cannot say any more than this about the concept. I feel that perhaps this needs a much stronger concept behind it to support the amazing merchandise or remove the figures completely. Alternatively, I think I would have probably only used three figures as a group or have separate groups of two and three. Maybe there could have been a figure sat on the floor or even added plinths to give different levels of height to form a pyramid. Either way, I feel it would have added a great deal of interest and promoted what is essentially an interesting brand.

Louis Vuitton, London

Further to yesterdays blog and Tatler Magazines 300th year anniversary, Louis Vuitton have installed this really fun scheme in celebration. Hundreds, if not thousands of Gold candles form the background to this scheme placed on a Gold reflective surface. The Mannequin sprayed bright red stands alone in this scheme. The windows in this store are extremely narrow so it is quite amazing what they do achieve. Building work on their larger site opposite this store seems never ending. The hoardings have been up for months and I am dying to see what the new store looks like. Anyway, in the meantime, a small pile of Gold party candles are layed at the mannequins feet, and as this is Louis Vuitton, a Golden fire extinguisher is provided should she need it.

Tatler 300th Year Anniversary

Just about every Designer store in London is paying some kind of homage to the Bible of Fashion Tatler and its 300th year Anniversary. From Daks, to Prada, Louis Vuitton, Yves St. Laurent....the list goes on, and all have either copies of Tatler magazines in the windows, a congratulatory message in vinyl on the glass front or as here with Daks the whole scheme is based around this anniversary. It is quite incredible that the magazine has lasted for so long and I do think this is something worth celebrating (if only I was on the guest list for the inevitable parties) Anyway, so current are some of these messages, that I actually managed, late one evening to capture the 'guy' from the vinyl / decal company applying the congratulatory message from Miu Miu.

Vivienne Westwood

I have been looking at this scheme at Vivienne Westwood here in London, several times and I am not quite sure what to say about it apart from describing it. The backdrop and 'plinths' are made from cut polystyrene and sprayed in the tones seen here. The bust forms from Proportion London with their articulated arms always work so well. The lighting has been perfectly considered and as always the merchandise is superb. Not a pioneering scheme, more of a gap filler perhaps, although it is doing what it says on the tin and maybe that's OK too.

Oasis, London

In celebration of London Fashion week recently Oasis, created this fantasy dolls house for their new concept - The House of Oasis. This enormous creation fills a whole window space along the site in Regent St. here in London. This reminded me of the incredible structure that Viktor and Rolf produced for the dolls that they created wearing their collections and placed within several floors that filled their exhibition at the Barbican a couple of years ago. Of course, if I look at this scheme in my capacity as I commercial interior or spatial designer the space itself doesn't work, the scale is wrong and it contains an odd mixture of styles, however, this is fantasy, it does what it says on the tin. We are amused and interested in it as we traverse the city and in a moment, it is gone Although, I cant resist wondering where on earth that staircase is leading too?

Mulberry, London

I wrote about this scheme a few weeks ago as it was really worth recording as an innovative narrative. However, subsequently, the design team have exchanged the mannequins from the original scheme to ones which I find so odd and really rather uncomplimentary. I try to resist being too critical in case I have missed some important point and any personal critique here is not necessarily informed, but merely an emotional response so something visual. That said, in this case, I feel that these figures just don't work with this scheme. Am I being harsh and too critical? The figures have wooden articulated arms which is absolutely fine as it provides the user with a huge amount of flexibility, however the wigs that these figures are wearing and the shape of these figures I feel just do nothing but distract from the scheme and the merchandise that they are selling. Now, the idea may have originated from the catwalk of London Fashion week which in a way has (perhaps) become like an important publication which has the patina of authority. This doesn't mean of course that it is right and perhaps needs to be questioned not just accepted? I think I would have tested the merchandise on these figures before buying them as part of the design team as the original very strong and interesting concept seems to have been diluted? (If you click on the left under 'Muberry' this gives you a comparison between the same scheme but using different Mannequins)

Bershka, London

This scheme at Bershka reminds me in a way of the kind of scheme Barneys in New York would produce. The scheme, stacked full of speakers of all sizes and types I think works incredibly well probably because it is an example of repetition of the same type (of prop) and yet there are some interesting anomalies. The difference, however is that Barneys would have sourced actual speakers and these are photographs and prints of speakers in a three dimensional format (some are peeling away from the surface that they are stuck too if you look closely, which is a give away). I am guessing that this is the flagship store for this brand so I would have expected real speakers (and what great fun it would have been finding them all from a variety of sources). Still, I understand and like the concept and of course, the overall scheme is organised in a pyramidal format which is always pleasing to the eye.

Dior, London

While city walking along Sloane st. in Knightsbridge recently I came across this scheme by Dior. Mannequins have been positioned on these American style fire escapes as if posing for a magazine photo shoot. Of course, it is well documented this style of fire escape were often used for activities other than their intended purposes, particularly in poorer areas of 20th Century USA, and therefore, at least for me, this adds to my interest. We can also, perhaps see links here to West Side Story or its original equivalent Romeo and Juliet or even perhaps a Hitchcock thriller such as the 1950's Rear Window. The use of the diagonal shadows across the structure, so popular in film noir maybe could have been included within this scheme to avoid the sterility and enhance the urban chic, although I am not privy to the process that this scheme went through to get to this stage and therefore perhaps I am trying to add too many layers. Anyway, as usual, this is a perfectly executed scheme with attention to such microscopic detail which makes this scheme simple yet so superbly produced.

FCUK, London

I felt quite bemused by these windows at French Connection recently as I don't really understand what the thinking is behind this scheme. I quite like the idea of these stacked structures although I think the thing that worried my sensitive flaneur-ing eyes is that they are perhaps a little reminiscent of coffins, particularly as they contain these (seemingly) dwarfed headless figures. I saw a similar scheme in Germany several years ago which had mannequin babies crawling all over them which sends shivers down my spine. Perhaps it reminds me of the bodies of the Capuchin monks in the various crypts in Italy which have that eerie quality that just gives you nightmares? In particular, when one reads the inscriptions that usually accompany these corpses that announce 'As you are, we once were, As we are now you will become'. Perhaps I am being unfair and I don't want to kill the concept (no pun intended). Anyway, I do feel that the lighting also needs some attention as the nature of having this type of structure excludes the opportunity to use the inhereted lighting scheme and perhaps each structure needs its own individual lighting source as they have done in the image above?

Diesel, London

Following on from my post yesterday of the Diesel site along Bond St., here we have the Diesel site on Carnaby St. also in London. You are able to see such a different personality to these sites that look completely unconnected to one another. On the one hand we have a slightly industrial feel to one store with perfect presentation and here we have an example of pure experimental creativity. And this is only one scheme of many where even the exterior of the site has been changed. The scraped paint finish creates a kind of a suburban unkempt unloved type of presentation or some 'unter' night club (of course it has all been perfectly orchestrated and works so incredibly well). This adds to the 'uber' cool feel to this brand. I do find myself a little torn between the notion of mass production and my dislike of globalisation which these kind of high street companies represent and yet I am drawn to come back for more and more if only to see what they will do next. Am I really this shallow?

Diesel, London

As regular readers will know this is one of my favourite stores and brands for visual communication. The new concept at Diesel (Bond St. site) here in London has implemented an interesting scheme albeit rather odd. I say odd as I am not quite sure what this is saying to me. What I do find so interesting is the difference between this site and one of Diesel's sister sites in London (I will publish the details and visuals in my next entry) What Diesel seem to be doing is creating almost sub-brands within the brand. Each store is creating its own personality according to the type of clientele who may shop in a particular area. This takes an enormous amount of work and is something that I welcome with open arms as long as there is consistency in the high level of presentation across the various sites. And there really is. I am not familiar with the structure of the visual team for Diesel, however there clearly are some very creative people working incredibly hard in forging a new and exciting way of working that I haven't seen in any other high street brand or indeed in any of the Designer brands.