Other Criteria, London

Its not often one views merchandise in store windows late at night while walking alone in one of the most luxurious places in London worth over £7.5 K just sat there. At Other Criteria, the work of Eduardo Sarabia's '18 with a bullet' collection being showcased here makes for an interesting view. With the continuing trend of retailers utilising artists and designers outside of the industry, here Other Criteria use the work itself - after all they are a kind of Gallery. This is an interesting concept actually as they sell the postcard, the t-shirt, the poster, the print and so on of a variety of artists work as well as the work itself, namely Damien Hirst, Banksy, David Bailey (at least the ones you may have heard of) both signed and unsigned too. Cant afford a Damien Hirst painting? Then buy yourself a postcard of it (yeah, I know its not the same). The simplicity of these windows works incredibly well and I must say that I adore some of this stuff. I wouldn't be prepared to pay the price of it however and it is 'stuff' that I can live without purchasing or aspiring to do so although a lot of it is actually very beautiful. However, if you like this kind of thing, this is the place for you. Maybe while you're there also check out Jane Simpsons 'A beautiful Day in a Glossy World'. Described as "a tableau of rubber vases displayed on a shelf". If you cant afford the £11.5K price tag, then swing by Habitat or Zara Home on Regent st. and do it yourself for a fraction of the cost. I promise not to tell anyone. Just think what you could buy with the £11.450k I've just saved you. Go on treat yourself.

Diesel, London

While it has been sweltering hot in London recently and Sale windows still predominate across town, it becomes ever more difficult to give you examples of some interesting schemes. However, there are some little gems around if one looks hard enough and Diesel, here along Bond St. is a good example (even their sale scheme looks cool). This store in particular seems to differ from its sister sites with each scheme which is refreshing. While the majority of their current scheme in this store is in Sale, they do have a part of it which remains interesting. The team here have used copies of technical / formal drawings as a backdrop in front of which is placed the product. Metal cogs (the kind of thing that you would see on a bicycle) have been grouped in a repetition format of various sizes. Simple and clean, another little winner from this brand.

Burberry, London

While wandering along Bond St. here in London last week, I suddenly found myself rediscovering my roots in Catholicism. I am rather lapsed these days (OK, well completely lapsed if I'm honest) but it really is so much more fun, even if it leads to a few tut tut's along the way. Anyway, having followed the schemes at Burberry for so long and yearning for something creative to ooze out of these windows like some Hollywood blockbusting B-Movie I prayed that the next scheme would be exciting. With some hope of a kind of divine intervention on my mind too, I did find myself praying to St. Jude (patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes) well, for a split second at least, he came into my mind, as these things do. I was really hoping to send out positive thoughts to this brand to be brave and do something creative. I clearly owe some penance somewhere out there and St. Jude obviously (sort of) declined my request and 'voila', here we go, buckle up, baton down the hatches, we have the same old stuff. St. Jude, where are you? I will obviously have to work much harder in sending out the positive vibes to Burberry. Great merchandise, superb presentation, dull-as-dish-water-seen-it-for-the-past-decade-concept.

Space.NK. apothecary

I recently found myself in one of these stores as a good friend of mine had bought me some of their products, so, I thought I should swing by and take a closer look inside to see what else this brand do. Surprisingly they do produce the most delicious smelling stuff and although I found it quite expensive, it clearly is superb quality. (I recommend the Mandarin Grapefruit candle which smells good enough to eat..!) Anyway, while the sales assistants were incredibly helpful and so nice with it, after all this does make up part of the environment and the shopping experience, I couldn't help feeling that the price point of the product didn't quite work with the environment. Yes, the products are luxurious and the 'best' money can buy an' all that, but the environment itself does look a little mid-market by comparison. This, I think was the reason I thought that the product was expensive, rather than anticipating that it would be before I entered the site (hope you're following me here). The store window concept works well, although reminded me a little of a suburban hair dressing salon, rather than a luxury brand. This is possibly due also to the wide range of product packaging being sold from a wide variety of brands which are all placed together rather than an overall simple packaging that are stamped Space.NK. Of course, the brand wish to show their product width, although I think I would have made more of one product in a repetition format or at least chosen products from the same 'collection' such as Diptyque, Life NK and so on in order to achieve a stronger look. What do you think?

Selfridges, London (Kyle Bean Installation)

If you didn't know Kyle Bean, then now is your opportunity (at least to a point). I was quite wowed seeing this guys work in Selfridges windows here in London. According to his website he pitched to Selfridges for the job. Personally I would have pitched to Kyle - this is how incredibly exciting his work is, and he's so amazingly prolific too. This is such a wonderful concept, and this guy has already produced work for Liberty and Hermes. It really is such a pleasure to see retailers continuing to use and support young artists and designers in showcasing their work within their high profile windows, something we have seen more and more of in 2010. My only other thought is that I wish there was a little more information about where this concept came from in order to understand Kyle's thinking. These things are important to me as these concepts don't develop or exist without a context and I would like to know more. Still, in the mean time, get yourself along to Selfridges and be mesmerised by Kyle's work. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of him.

Jeff De Bruges, London

I'm not a huge chocolate fan, (yeah, I know) but even I was drooling looking at this store. The Jeff De Bruges store here along South Molton st. in London oozes sophistication and really does make me want to spend, spend spend. Although, their website translates hilariously into 'Engrish' so that Sugared Almonds are described as 'Pills' and jellied fruit as 'fruit paste' (sounds appetizing, hey?) you can get the gist of what they are trying to say. The store itself is painted in a delicious dark chocolate tone and the product packaged beautifully. This really is sophisticated stuff and worthy of checking out if you happen to be in town. My favourite chocolatier is still Mariebelle in New York but this is certainly is in my personal top 10.

Selfridges, London

Whether you want, desire, worship, covet, envy, lust or yearn, Selfridges is the place to be. This store goes from strength to even stronger, and I cant help but love it more and more and be drawn in to spend my ever dwindling cash. Looking is free, of course, but the way these guys present their merchandise does make it ever more desirable that I cant help but want, desire, worship (OK, maybe not worship), envy and lust, almost certainly everything they sell. The atmosphere is electric, the experience is fun and the merchandise is delicious. I may need to have another fix very soon to feed my shopping dependency. Am just kidding of course, but do go and check them out. Simple wooden structures based on White emulsioned bricks create an industrial feel to these windows. If you haven't seen them, go and be seduced.

Due to techinical problems with the server, unfortunately today's entry will be delayed in launching. Apologies to all followers.

Butler and Wilson

A few days ago, one of my regular readers asked me if I could find the Butler and Wilson Store here in London and if I would feature this store for her as she had seen a lot of their 'stuff' on QVC. She did mention how "outrageous" their jewellery was and yet, how much she thought I may be interested in reviewing it. Well here you go. Along South Molton St. here in London is their incredible store. Jewellery and these kind of accessories are notoriously difficult to present effectively, however these guys do it quite well. I am not quite sure about the use of the mannequins here, and in display dynamic terms, this doesn't work particularly well. On viewing the store, I do feel that if these guys are going to use a mannequin, then the product needs to be elevated about another 60cm to prevent the 'gap' in the products becoming the focal point within this installation. In the meantime, I love the bling merchandise and while I am unlikely to buy anything, it is a pleasure to view.

Harvey Nichols, London

I was nearly run over last night by a monster of a car (or probably one of those Chelsea tractors) but with an Arabic number plate as it left that 'interesting' Knightsbridge casino next to Harvey Niks and as I flaneured around Knightsbridge itself. I'm not asking for sympathy here as it was my own fault as I tried to take in the incredible new scheme at this ever fabulous department store in order to take some photographs for you all. How dedicated am I, hey? Anyway, I was so in awe of this scheme walking backwards and forwards to look at the detail that I now know what these guys were up to behind those 'Sale' vinyls for the past few weeks. This is one of the greatest schemes I have seen from this brand and one that will appear in all of those publications around the world. Janet Wardley, the Creative Director here and her team have absolutely excelled themselves and this is certainly the top scheme of theirs for 2010. I would liken it to Bergdorf Goodman in New York (I do regard BG as the pinnacle of this industry) but, this is much, much better (apologies to my dear VM and Display friends in NYC, but this one really is the best right now). Just go and check it out - spectacular and what this industry is all about.

Amouage, London

Amouage's flagship store along Lowndes st. here in London, has recently installed this incredible tree in its windows. I don't walk around this part of town very often (well rarely, if I'm honest with you). The SW1 area of London is not my normal stomping ground which is usually reserved for the Uber wealthy, so it was particularly a great treat to happen upon this store on my journey while flaneuring the city and taking a few welcome detours in order to vary what I present. I would recommend occasionally doing this too in order to find such hidden gems as Amouage. Amouage, "was created over a quarter of a century ago as a niche luxury brand" and "draws inspiration from its birthplace of the Sultanate of Oman". I actually hadn't realised just how big this company are - and so global too. Anyway, its transpires that this installation here was developed between the guys at http://www.ksht.co.uk/ and the clearly creative Director Christopher Chong, based on his collection which had been inspired by the 'tree of life'. The incedibly beautiful illustrations of Aurthur Rackham informed the look or this piece by designers Kathryn Scanlon and Howard Tong and created by Dallas and Angel at DnA factory (you must look at their amazing website). If you don't know KSHT, its OK. I only recently found them too. But now you know them you must take a look at their website and let yourself be amazed at the projects they have worked on. These guys have produced so much for the high street how did I not find them sooner? Anyway, you must check them out here at http://www.ksht.co.uk/ and add them into your book of must have contacts.

London Gay Pride Parade 2010

Some of the best places to find inspiration is on the 'street'. The London Gay Pride march through the heart London's West End and centre of shopping is just one of the events where the flamboyant, the daring, the caring, the carefree, the political, the loud, the proud, the quiet, the sporty, the old, the young (the list goes on) come together in an amazing choreography and spectacle almost too much to capture. Here are just some of the images from the day, many captured from my vantage point on a balcony over looking Oxford st. and some in the heart of Soho. If you were there too, hopefully some of these images will remind you of what you had forgotten although sadly images never really capture the atmosphere. If you are in the images, thank you for your wonderful creativity and inspiration.

Dunhill, London

Dunhill is one of those brands that I remember so well from the 70's growing up in suburbia, well the countryside actually. OK, if I'm honest, an 'interesting' 1960's council estate in the back of beyond which I am assured will one day be cool to admit. Still, this is not to say that it was unhappy growing up there, nothing could be further from the truth and I am actually thankful for that. "Ya know, it helps me keep it real an' all that". However, the reason I mention that context is that it didn't seem to matter where these tiny towns or places and spaces were, there always seemed to be a Dunhill on the high street. And, it was the kind of place my grandfathers would have shopped, it they had ever shopped at all. This I do doubt. These stores always seemed to have 19Th century shop fronts, the top part of the fenestration was always filled with stained glass, the kind that is Uber cool now for the likes of Anthroplogie et al and seemed to be crammed to the rafters with dusty merchandise and odd looking mannequins. Anyway, I was quite stunned to see this little gem adjacent to Fortnum and Mason just off Piccadilly here in London. My, how times have changed. This store actually looks so cool. OK, not cool as in 'cutting edge' but I am really quite wowed at how these guys have turned this brand around. Suitcases (covered in shiny Silver Vinyl) have been hung and opened as if pouring out the flawless merchandise. I really am surprised at this brand and I do hope that they will nudge a little further forward and continue with this creative streak. This is clearly quality menswear and I may just drop by and take a closer look. Am I turning into my grandfathers?