Berlin, Germany



Image copyright cosmicadventure.com

Für den Rest der Woche und alle nächsten sind wir die Erkundung der Sehenswürdigkeiten von Berlin hier in Deutschland. Wir sind für die neuesten und größten in Trends, kommerziellen Umgebungen und spannende neue Dinge, die mit euch allen zu teilen suchen. Nur watch this space .......

For the rest of the week and all of next we are exploring the delights of Berlin here in Germany.  We're looking for the latest and greatest in trends, commercial environments and exciting new things to share with you all.  Just watch this space.......  Our German is a little rusty.....ok well, non existent.  Flicking though our German dictionary, we hope the above translates ok?

Canali, London

We're not sure why, but we've never included Canali on this site.  However, monochrome scheme, chess pieces, a playing card (Ace, of course, possibly for Alpha male) and a die.  The dressing is always superb, the store looks great, but what a dull scheme.  Men have a sense of humour too, don't we?

Hugo Boss, London

Contrary to our predictions that Hugo Boss would produce 'all things underwater' schemes for the next few months, they have swiftly changed direction and, well...erm...here we have lots of clocks really, albeit representing the various time zones.  Soooooo, we could wax lyrical about the levels of hidden meaning behind these and how they represent the internationalism of the commercial market, and so on.  Or we could say that they we simply repetition of radiating forms of the same size, if we were to apply some product dynamics.  But anyway, we're so incredibly bored with seeing clocks representing various time zones.....because we-haven't-seen-that-before-have-we?  At least the dressing is decent, the product is great, we saw one of the team working on this scheme last week clearly checking out the detail.  BUT, this is as dull as London weather in Winter-time.  Cu'mon guys inject some fun into these schemes.  Menswear can be fun, ironic, interesting etc. without being Neanderthal, dandy and plain old camp.  Do all men really want Black, Brown and Grey all of the time?  No we don't.  You heard it from the source.

Diesel, London

We really quite like the current scheme at Diesel.  OK well it is the usual marketing malarkey, although of course their scheme is produced to their usual high standards even though it is marketing led.  The Diesel Island promos photography is quite stunning although the campaign is a little cringe worthy for our tastes with its re-written philosophical Island laws.  For example "the best part of learning from mistakes is having made them", we are sure was once one of the hundreds of versions (possibly by Smiles), "those who never made a mistake never made a discovery" or another Island Law, "Experience only tells us how things were done in the past" was possibly taken from Santayana's misquoted "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfil it".  Unfortunately it all reads a little like poor translations into 'Engrish'.   Still, the windows look great.

Chanel, London

We have been searching absolutely everywhere for a TV in a handbag.  If you have too, the search is now over.

Tiffany, London

Wow, if you happen to be along Bond St. soon, do go and check out the new Tiffany scheme.  The scheme has probably gone around the globe, but what fun is this hey?  Delicious ice creams with the most incredible names, and just one piece of jewellery.  Its fun, its romantic and simply superbly and beautifully produced.

Max Mara, London

All change at Max Mara, London

Store Fronts, Hong Kong



Images Copyright Angel Ko



The wonderfully kind Angel Ko who is based in Hong Kong and a very talented and enviously young designer has kindly sent us some of her images of current store fronts in Hong Kong.  We haven't ventured there ourselves yet, however we wanted to share these with you in order to whet your appetite and view some of what is happening on the other side of the world from London.

Henri Lloyd, London

Oh God help us.  If you happen to be along Carnaby st. this week then avert your gaze from Henri Lloyd and its suspended headless corpses.  Cu'mon guys invest in some decent equipment.  Strangely the side window to this site actually looks fine with its small step ladder, the kind we can see all around town right now so they are clearly aware of some of the current trends.  But these windows.....?  Even the shutters are down, possibly in case some hideous looter or ram raider is looking specifically for the corpse-look - simply bizarre, undesirable and we just wonder how they are possibly making any money here?

Brooks Brothers, London

Wow, we really love Brooks Brothers at the moment.  It seems faux plaster busts (the kind we often see in town halls around London although actually in plaster or stone) and phrenology heads amongst other things are being seen quite a lot around town right now from Liberty to Tommy H.  Anyway, the attention to detail here is quite superb.  OK, well the boating stuff we can leave way, way behind (that's all part of the simulated heritage of this brand), but the guys here have produced such a wonderfully detailed scheme with references to 'Back to School' in a way which is so wonderfully subliminally done as to hardly notice.  All the dynamics are here in conjunction with the narrative.  We have never been inside this store, but we are going to have closer look now...we're drawn in.

VM and Display Awards, 2011

If you haven't submitted your VM and Display solutions and concepts for the VM and Display Awards 2011 then the clock is ticking.  You only have just a few more hours to hit that deadline today.  If you would like to submit your work from 2011 which will be judged by a panel of independant representatives,  You can enter by email at enquiries@rvmww.com

This week we met with the team from the Awards 2011 together with VM representatives working across our industry. With our wide ranging perspectives, viewpoints, understanding and interpretation of our collective VM industry,  it was beneficial  for us to reflect on where we are with our Awards and where we would like them to be as we move forward to the future.   Representatives from Luxury Brands, Sarah Southgate (Harrods), High street multiples, Tim Whitmore (Topshop), Industry Suppliers, Michael Smith (SmithVC), Academic and practitioner, Jonathan Baker (London College of Fashion) collectively discussed potential ideas and concepts regarding the future of these awards and the forms which they may or could possibly take.  In order to maintain a high level of transparency and fairness for the benefit of our wider industry colleagues, representatives and interested parties, the contributing group, have not made absolute decisions with any deliberate exclusions or to the detriment of others in our industry, only opened up potential possibilities by drawing on our wide variety of experiences and backgrounds which enabled us to discuss potential ways forward in order to support these Awards in becoming ever more prestigious.  We have no monopoly on the eventual outcomes, these things are still open for discussion with all industry contributors, colleagues and so on, however this was an opportunity to develop some kind of framework from which to begin and reflect on where we have come from.  Through our meeting this week which was enormously productive in analysing what works well, unravelling areas for development and potentially exciting ways forward we feel sure that this year will be one of the best so far, but we do wish to build further on this foundation and it is crucial, we feel, for the longevity of our industry that we do so.  We wholly support the future of these Awards as we move forward and we would like you to join us too to celebrate the great and greater of our UK VM industry on the 7th October 2011.  Of course we would also like to wish you good luck in being selected to win one of these incredibly prestigious Awards too.

Please see www.vmanddisplay.com for full entry details

Celebrating 0.4 Million Visitors

Today we are Celebrating the incredible 0.4 Millionth Visit to http://www.retailstorewindows.com/  Over 1000 followers, Over 1000 Entries.  Simply Amazing.

Accessorize, London

We don't always stop and check this brand out, or at least not very often, however, we really liked the concept behind this.  The 'feel and look' of the market stall is one of the trends we have seen over the past several months and we can imagine this being straight from our own actual market resources.  OK, well the sizes are exaggerated, the ribbons are a little much and of course it would have been rather more beneficial for these guys if the space had greater depth, but the idea is there and the whole 'lifestyle' aspect of this brand is communicated through this concept.  We particularly loved the arm chair that the mannequin is sat on here although you'll have to go and see this particular store close to Selfridges on Oxford St. to get a better look.