Alexander McQueen, London

Images: Copyright and used with kind Permission of Proportion>London

If you happen to be along Bond St. this week, the creative team have installed this incredibly exciting installation here at Alexander McQueen. I was wowed when I received these images and I am drooling just looking at them. I loved the Lady Gaga video (Bad Romance) when she wears McQueen designed shoes that are also included in these windows below. The Mannequin used here clad with the wonderful Python snake pattern has been produced by my dear friends at Proportion>London under the creative direction of Tanya Reynolds. I am fascinated by these collaborations we are begininng to see more and more of this year and I can only wonder what either company will do next. Of course, Proportion>London produce all sorts of incredibly designed pieces, although as always the only limitation is our own imagination. If you don't know them.....click the link here http://www.proportionlondon.com/

Images: Copyright Proportion>London

Wrangler, London

Wrangler are a brand which I don't normally include in this blog, not because I don't like the brand, but because so many of these brands look so similar and produce the same kind of 'stuff' that when there is so little differentiation between them its hard to find something interesting that captures my attention apart from the campaigns. Anyway, the 'We are Animals' campaign is quite interesting in that it captures what Wrangler calls 'Primal Urges'. Men and Women captured in the heat of the moment and bathed in Red water, dust and light. I do like this campaign although I do feel that I have seen this kind of thing before (well hey, I lived through the 80's) and it does have that ID magazine 1986 feel to it for me. Still, it must be hard to be original when selling jeans and they clearly have spent a lot of money on it and the photographs are beautifully produced. I guess if you never read ID magazine in the 80's then it is cutting edge - maybe?

Levis London

Having waited ages for this stores renovation to be complete, it finally opened recently. And how exciting too. Levi's have produced a store that any brand would be proud of and I cant wait to have a proper look around inside. The selling space doesn't even begin until several metres into the space. The shopper passes through a gallery 'like' space that would'nt look out of place as a New york loft apartment before walking through enormous doors to the retail space itself. This is an incredibly brave move by this company which seems to have created an experience with the sales angle deliberately played down. We have seen the likes of this strategy with companies such as Nike, and this does confirm the strength of this brand. I had felt that 'they' had lost their way a little recently, but clearly not. This is a massive leap forward and I for one will certainly be checking them out.

Gant, London

Since the Gant store here along Regent St. in London opened at the beginning of the year, I have been watching from a distance to see what they would come up with and, OK, well the usual mass produced stuff one would expect of a brand this size have been installed although this is the first one that I have actually recorded as it did catch my attention. While not particularly revolutionary, (we've all seen this moped before in a dozen other schemes), it is an interesting narrative and of course the dressing is what one would expect. I thought perhaps the bougainvillea could have been a little bigger and pinker (as they do grow that way) and really make a statement. The colours used are appropriate to the season being promoted although overall, it is rather safe? What do you think?

Banana Republic, London

It was a pleasant surprise to see these windows at Banana Republic on Regent St. here in London this week. Huge origami 'esque' boats and flowers are the main focus of this scheme. Of course, Chanel did something similar last Summer, still, it is refreshing to see this brand be a little more experimental and such a large scale. I am also relieved that they cleared the previous scheme in Beige with the obligatory bicycle. Perhaps although window designs with huge multiple brands like these are crawling painfully forward, they are at least moving. So thank you B.R.

Anthropologie, London

As my regular readers will know this is one of my favourite brands visually. The teams for these stores do produced the most exciting schemes. As we have seen with Liberty, Desiguel and a few other brands, the notion of handmade is a current trend and this brand is certainly the leader in this field. I was particularly interested in their use of felt which I have'nt seen in a very long time. The use of shredded material of course, has been seen across several brands over the years, although felt is a new and additional resource to use in this context. Artists such as Patricia Spark, Sue Clay and Mary-Clare Buckle have been producing this stuff for years. However, I do hope that these kinds of 'lost' crafts do become popular again as they are actually hugely fascinating and I am thankful to Anthro. for leading the way here.

Aquascutum, London

I don't think I have ever included this brand on the site before. This is possibly due to its location rather than because they don't do interesting schemes. While I walk around the city this store is just a little further to make the effort to see, however, the quality is always so perfect. Aquascutum, of course, traditionally known for its Waxy Barbour's, which we saw a lot of in the 1980's. I also once had an interview here, many years ago and didn't get the job. I was asked "if I actually owned a suit" as I sat there in my ill fitted charity shop suit jacket and faded Black trousers. Of course being so poor I had never even owned a suit but was hoping that the badly paid salary would at least afford me one. Anyway, the humiliating experience hasn't tainted my view of the Brand (even though it took me a few years to get over it). The creative team here have used the repetition of Bird forms and Butterflies as the backdrop to this scheme, together with a Bamboo structure outlining the Union Jack and Elephant silhouettes on Bamboo stilts. I am not sure I understand the scheme but it does work very well.

Topman, London

Topman here in Oxford Circus, has really established its personality. I always found that Topshop led the way with product presentation, although I know from my experience of working with these Brands, and indeed at this particular store, whatever Senior Management decide, goes and it really held the creative teams back from exploring exciting ways of presenting the image - after all, weren't Topman suits meant to be worn for your first court appearance? It is, however, very refreshing and extremely exciting to see the incredible schemes from these brands which really have the edge over most of the multiples on the high street here. No wonder this store is so popular and usually mobbed on a daily basis. The use of neon and lighting is superb and I look forward to the next installation.

Topshop, London

If you happened to be at Topshop this week you couldn't help but notice the painting in the window by the Japanese artist Houxo Que. Que's work is usually produced using quite colourful paints produced within darkened spaces and flourescent lighting. This is an interesting direction for Topshop and I am pleased that they are tapping into collaborations with Artists, very much like Nicole Farhi did at the beginning of the year. This is definitely a wonderful trend which I hope continues, not only to breathe fresh air into the industry but also support Artists and Designers wherever they are around the world. It also makes a change from using Artists such as Warhol which of course has usually been the staple Artist that nearly everyone uses.

G Star Raw, London

Following on from yesterdays entry on Hermes, I noticed G-Star, the cool men's Jeans brand are following a similar format in the presentation of their product. Large format graphics fill their store windows with the addition of some of their merchandise contained within it. I'm not a huge fan of this presentation although it is innovative (at least to a point) and it is interesting to see retailers at least experimenting with alternative ways in presenting their product and maybe this will kick start an idea with someone else and lead on to other ways in which to work. This, of course can only be a good thing. If you happen to be along Carnaby st., here in London, where this store is situated, perhaps go and have a look.

Hermes, London

If you happen to be along Bond St. this week, Hermes have installed these life-sized graphics containing a selection of their products. This is an interesting development on the use of graphics in store windows and I thought I had seen just about every combination, whether in light boxes, suspended, repeated, spherical, stepped, cubed, in the style of a famous artist, such as Warhol, and the list goes on, but this is a new one for me. I sent these and other images to my colleague in NYC who immediately noticed the reflection in the glass of the windows opposite Hermes. If you look closely you can see almost ghostly figures reflected in the windows from Burberry across the street. Anyway, I am not sure how I feel about these windows. Perhaps I was expecting something a little more luxurious from a luxury brand? Maybe tell me what you think?

Dover st. Market, London

If you happen to be along Dover St. here in London this week (just off Bond St.) then do take the tour of the Baccarat crystal chandeliers at Dover St. market and the Bouchons De Carrafe by Elie Top with the crystal perfume bottles and Brandy decanters from 1910 - 1920. As the marketing screams, "Purity of line clear reflections of light couture extravagance". I have to admit that it sounds rather 'made-up' to me. Ok, if I am honest, what I'm trying to say here, is that it has a huge dose of 'so what' value, particularly when the V&A have all this stuff anyway, and perhaps a friend of a friend has somehow over a caraffe of cut crystal decided that "we-simply-must-have-an-exhibition-of-the-same-old-stuff-that-everyone-else-has-done-forever-but-we-will-promote-you-anyway-because-we-think-you-are-fabulous. Cu'mon Dover st. Market, you guys are one of the most Uber cool and cutting edge places and I do feel, and I am getting the same response from my readers e-mails, that, we feel a little cheated that you are presenting this to us as if it is OK.

Diesel, London

Does large format graphic = gap filler? Having followed the schemes from this Brand for quite some time I was, well, I have to admit, a little disappointed to find this one. The creative's here have produced such amazing schemes over the past year or so and it has been such a pleasure to see the re-localisation of creativity coming back into practise. After all, we have suffered the homogenisation of Brand schemes around the world long enough and quite frankly, I am bored with seeing the same old stuff everywhere I go and I know from all of your messages that you are too. Anyway, I was hoping to be wowed by this scheme since the previous taboo 'death' scenario that was presented, but, I suppose, all we can do is wait and see what happens next. Its not like I am buying any stuff from this brand so maybe I have no say? Just maybe I am waiting to be wowed into buying any of the merchandise in the first instance? In the mean time, watch this space and lets see what happens next.......