Graduate Fashion Shows, 2012

If you weren't at this graduate fashion show last night, where were you?  Students from Southampton Solent University (yeah, how amazing are these guys..!) showed their latest offering as part of 'Free Range' in this Uber cool area of Brick lane.  Presenting collections and utilising a range of fabric types (we particularly loved the laser cut wood accessories) they incorporated diverse themes from 'Immortality of Sentiment' to collections wonderfully named 'East meets West'. With a stunning show, it really does communicate how exciting things are outside of London. We only seem to leave London on a plane these days, probably just like so many other Londoners; so, it is refreshing to see Southampton firmly stamp their place on the Fashion scene.  These guys clearly worked incredibly hard to put this show together and it looks like Southampton grads. are truly rocking. 

You must also try and get yourself a copy of the publication 'Third Floor' too.  With contributions from the likes of David Downtown, Alex Knox, Rob Templeman, Terry Mansfield, Nikita Karizma......and well....ahem......Jonathan Baker. You simply must have a copy as part of your personal collection. Contact www.3rdfloorpublication.co.uk and order yourself a copy....do it right now.

Gant, London

With the Queen's Jubilee just a few days away, stores around town are nearly all sporting the Union flag (apart from a luxury brands who are clearly above all this malarkey).  Anyway, it all looks very patriotic and actually quite moving.  We don't remember an occasion that looked this involved.  Anyway, Gant has joined the celebrations also and looking very cool.  We love the Red, White and Blue street scene and the small showcase windows of course apply the usual dynamics.  Job well done we thought.

Anthropologie, London

We love the giant sunflowers at Anthropologie in their Regent St.'s store right now.  These guys are so incredibly creative and produce schemes which are just delicious, reusing, recycling and injecting masses of fun.  We could happily live in this store as it oozes the creativity we would love to see everywhere else on the high street, however the philosophy is quite unique with this brand and they always get it so wonderfully 'right'.  We are amazed that the brand is celebrating 60 years however as it is so vibrant and young but we know that they have the best people in place in order to maintain this.

Louis Vuitton, London

Louis Vuitton's new London scheme has arrived.....hurrah...!  Wow, well here you go, here's a snapshot from the amazing Maison along Bond st., and we have a scheme of levitating mannequins, spinning hoops and rabbits galore.  We love the gorgeous new colours of the luggage too;  we must have one.  We've been dying to see what the guys here would do next, trying on occasion to peer behind the blinds and here we have it,  Retail Store Windows at their very best. 

Asprey, London

New scheme coming from Asprey.......looking very exciting.  We cant wait to see the end result.

Market Day, London

This weekend we're searching and scouring for clients at the markets and looking for the latest finds and particularly the latest trends.  We've seen the chairs above at the coolest Cafes already in London and there are lots of these, so we're tempted to purchase a few of these ourselves.  We have also found tonnes of stuff that we will see on the high street over the next year from the reflective, shanty and just about every other trend.  If you want be at the forefront of it all, just get in contact.

Tods, London

Wow, we're loving Tods scheme right now.  These guys are going hell for leather with their recent schemes (no pun intended) and producing such wonderful quality installations which are also thoughtful, make sense, entertaining and still sell the product.  If you want to see 'how to do it' look at these guys right now.  All of the components of excellent Visual Merchandising are here together with the-massively-lacking-everywhere-else, a sense of humour.  Job well done we think.

Milan Trends 2012, SFD

Milan Trends 2012

 Current trends from Milan, 2012 courtesy of SFD.

Bombay High, Mumbai

Images Courtesy and Copyright Alokita Biswas

We have so few very good examples of store windows from India in our now enormous archive of images from the around the world so it was such a pleasure to see these little gems sent to us.  Clearly India is catching up to the rest of the world in visual presentation and actually this is a fantastic example of the theatre of Visual Merchandising which is better than most other places around the world that we have seen.  How exciting is this?  This beautifully produced scheme by Surreal Brand Solutions based in India is a clear indication that this country is rising rapidly within this area of design and that they really do understand the value of excellent quality presentation and how important it is to draw the customer in.  Anyway, if you want to see more of their work maybe check out their website at  www.letsgetsurreal.com

Laurent Debraux, Paris

Images Courtesy and Copyright Laurent Debraux

We're always fascinated by what artists around the world are doing as they tend to think in such wonderfully abstract ways. Unravelling this and understanding different ways of working is so incredibly exciting, don't you think?  The work of Laurent Debraux in Paris is one such artist that draws us in to take a closer look.  Optic sculptures in Acrylic and glass offer new or alternative methods from which we can develop new ideas for product presentation and narratives within store windows and in store visual merchandising.  We wouldn't wish to simply lift and place the work of Debraux into a commercial context of course, however understanding the thinking processes behind his work is a very good starting point from which to develop new methods and inform our own journey from concept to completion.

Alexander McQueen, London

We are always quite mesmerised by the schemes at McQueen as the guys here always produce such beautiful contexts, and within such a difficult space too.  The product as always is delicious, of course, although the creative hand of Laurent is missing here.  Please come back to London Laurent and work your magic?  This is the flagship of the world for this brand and we're missing the nuances and the edge that you produce.  So, in the meantime we have a scheme that we like, but want to love.

Smythson, London

After battering this brand for goodness knows how long, hands up, these guys have got this so damn right.  OK, well the handbag is the hero product, blah, blah, blah; however we love the context in which this is placed.  The beautifully produced drawings of the Palace and the Victoria memorial in a theatre-type scenario just works so well, right?  Well done guys for producing such a wonderful Jubilee scheme.  It looks brilliant and we couldn't wait to include it here to let everyone around the globe to see it too.

 

Hackett, London

It appears that Hackett have upped the ante regarding Jubilee Schemes around town right now.  These guys are getting it so right and we're always itching to see what they do next.  Thankfully these guys also have huge doses of humour which is definitely much needed on the high street.  With their nostalgic references (which one would expect given the subject) there is so much to draw one in and keep our interest.  How many other menswear brands are looking this cool?  Well none actually, these guys are leading the way and looking damn fricking good too.