Bally, London

Its quite unusual for Bally to use bust forms in their window schemes.  What is so interesting about these ones also are the layers added to them which makes them ever more interesting.  These bust forms used in a repetition format are being used 'naked' and raw with the addition of, in some cases this fibre glass layer which has been added to them.  We suspect Tanya (Tanya Reynolds, creative Director at Proportion>London) and her team have been experimenting with different materials and these ones are quite delicious.  We're pleased to see these in place at Bally as bags can be shown in such dull ways normally and what great fun they are too.

Gucci, London

We had forgotten that we had taken these images until recently.  Of course Sale windows are so dominant around town right now that there really is little else to photograph anyway, therefore we are scanning our previous weeks images in search of the latest or at least current images that we may previously overlooked.  These are some of them.  We had actually meant to include this scheme recently as it does work so incredibly well in its simplicity.  An image of a White marble staircase leading to nowhere in particular forms the back ground to the product here.  Strangely, these images of staircases do look incredibly cleverly and beautifully produced and our images just don't do them justice.  Sadly in our images the whole thing just looks like a headless mannequin wearing an OK suit in front of a White marble staircase.  Ah well,  who said that the camera never lies, hey?

Sale Windows, London

We have to admit that we are struggling at the moment to find anything innovative happening around town right now that we haven't already included on this site, and so we have a selection of Sale schemes for you.  We guess its a necessary evil and all part of the commercial calender out there on the high street, so lets get it out of the way and we'll bring you some none Sale schemes the rest of the week.

Moschino, London

The London store of Moschino have been using quite out-sized props at this site for quite some time, however their latest offering, following in the footsteps of brands such as Diane Von Furstenburg and many others over a longer period of time, the props themselves reflect the merchandise being presented.  While this is not a terrible thing to do we always wonder if the brand has simply run out of ideas and looks to the merchandise for inspiration?  But anyway, as usual, it looks great, but a sharp injection of fun would be good to view too, non?

On the Streets, London

Who could this possibly be?  Opera Gallery itching to be included on a site somewhere....well here ya' go guys, complete with Super-Obama.

London College of Fashion students win GOLD

We are so pleased to announce that Lai Chi Ho (Tommy) and Wakana Murata, Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising students at the London College of Fashion have been awarded first prize at the Skill VM competition (the In-store show) at Olympia yesterday.  My colleague Sarah Blackburn (Course Director) and I are very proud of these guys who worked incredibly hard to win the Gold award.  Tommy and Wakana developed a concept for a luxury brands' 'little Nude dress' based  on the exhibition by the House of Martin Margiela and the game of Jenga, and with just four hours to install this scheme, the outcome is quite remarkable.  Each of these tissue boxes were hand made and embossed with the brand logo and strategically placed as if they were about to fall while communicating both the fragility of the merchandise and the tensions of the game.  The judges for the scheme which included the Heads of Visual at Peter Jones and former head of Aquascutum and Jaeger were enormously impressed with these guys who's scheme can be viewed at the Peter Jones site along the Kings Road / Sloane sq. here in London very soon.

Liza Minnelli, Royal Albert Hall, London

Well, today was either Sale window schemes or photos of 'Pop Royalty' and well Liza clearly won.  This month seems to be teeming with invitations to shows and events here at http://www.retailstorewindows.com/ towers and, well how could we resist but to go and see the Queen of torch songs and other stuff, Liza herself when we had such amazing seats at the Royal (Uncle) Albert Hall here in London?  We're sure you will read all about it in the popular press anyway, although from our perspective, while the music was a little lounge lizard-esque,  it was great fun, great entertainment, incredible energy and a good old trip down memory lane.  How long can this incredible woman go on?

On the Streets, London

What is a PEDESTPIAN?

Red Border, London

For all those aspiring to enter into the world of Visual Merchandising, what a wonderful opportunity..!

Visual Merchandisers Around the World

We're always pleased to hear from Visual Merchandisers around the world and we often receive e-mails  of support, questions and thanks from a lot of you out there struggling with the 'system'.  The industry, sadly, can often be a difficult and solitary path to follow.  Low wages, no thanks, redundancy, the list  goes on.  However, there are also a lot of you who are soldiering on regardless and you're the guys who make the difference and contribute to the visual merchandising industry in a positive way.  We recently received these images from Australia from Nic Groom who is doing wonderful things on the other side of the world from London.  Nic, who moved from London to work in Melbourne, produces these really interesting schemes across enormous stores (we particularly love the wall of toast)  There are an awful lot of them too...!  88 stores across Australia and New Zealand.  Here we have a selection of Nic's installations ranging from a scheme called Time Flies and another inspired by feminine romance novels.  We are in a privilege position to receive so many message from you all out there, so please keep the images coming and lets all see what you guys are are doing around the world?

Harvey Nichols, London

Wow, if you haven't seen the latest scheme from the creative team at Harvey Nichols then you really are in for a treat.  As a special one-off we've decided to download our images into one of our on-line books in order for you to get a 'feel' for what these guys have produced.  The bizarre, the surreal and just a little bit sinister the guys here have created their latest scheme with their usual cool, informed and seemingly effortless (although of course it really isn't) style of working.  Always on the pulse, these guys always seem to get it so right.

Amouage, London

If you are around the Knightsbridge area soon, do go and check out the newest installation at Amouage.  This latest piece is a collaboration between the guys at www.KSHT.co.uk and our favourite artists Dallas and Angel at the DnA Factory.  Their latest piece, loosely based on Madame Butterfly is used to promote the latest fragrance from Amouage - Honour.  Hidden amongst the Rose petals and Butterflies are placed the amazing perfume in their gorgeous White bottles, just oozing luxury.  If you cant get to Knightsbridge you can always check the work by the DnA factory in in particular the link here of the work they produced at Harvey Nichols a few years ago is a real treat  http://www.thednafactory.com/harvey-nichols.html

Inspiration Books, London

As part of our on-going review of our site and of course freely bringing you the latest and greatest from the visual industry in London and wherever we are in the world,  purely benevolently for the visual industry and anyone else out there who is simply interested, we are trialing these visual inspiration books.  Firstly, to see if the system works and secondly to bring to you, in one tiny publication some interesting visual information about whats happening 'out there' and where we are looking.  The book above is still quite raw, but thats work in progress for you.  Please let us know what you think?