Agent Provocateur, London

If you're not yet entirely sure what you are going to do for your Valentine's celebrations, then why not have 'Adventures in Lingerie'? We can't imagine ourselves slipping into these little 'scratchy' numbers at our local Supermarket petrol station somehow, although stranger things have happened.  Its a shame that these mannequins look a little disheveled, 'done' or 'had' as this always appears to be such a glamorous brand and the 'two hookers holding a petrol (or gas if you are reading this stateside) pump nozzle in such a suggestive way makes these mannequins in this scenario appear more 'up for it' rather than sexy.  Maybe its someones fantasy, just not ours.  If ya know wha' we mean...;o) 

Church's, London

Do Church's actually sell these Golden shoes?  With metallic's rife around town right now (just look at Burberry), these lil' pups just work perfectly, don't they?  Men's shoe presentation is always so dull in comparison to the fantastic shoe lounges, shoe bars and shoe experiences that females have the whole fantasy bubbly spa experience of loveliness to choose from while males are left with the Grey, Black, Brown and the occasional colour (if you happen to be a sensitive male) to select from.  Cutting through it all.....thank goodness for Church's right now leading the way into the light of interesting presentation and fantastic product.  Finally.

Gucci, London

We love the latest scheme at Gucci right now, how cool is this brand looking?  The product itself is supported by these ever-so-slightly-Manga referenced cartoon images in dynamic poses.  That's all there is to say about it really, but it does look cool, don't you think?

Smythson, London

Wow, how crisp, clean and wonderfully illuminated does Smythson look right now?  As nearly everyone is gearing up for Valentines Day, thankfully this is one of the brands that are not completely plastered with heart motifs, but instead with beautiful product, all perfectly placed and surrounded with these Love letter props. Very elegantly and tastefully produced we thought.

American Apparel, Tokyo

As most of you know, we're not big fans of heart motifs (or motifs in general) however we've been kindly sent these images of this scheme in Japan and wanted to share it with you as this is an interesting way of communicating the dreaded Valentines promotion without the mass of Red cut out heart motifs. The merchandise is hung behind these (we guess vinyl) eyes communicating the theme without being so horrendously obvious.  Great one Lena and thanks for sharing these with us.

Hugo Boss, London

How gorgeous is this colour Blue here at Hugo Boss?  It reminds us of that incredible Viktor and Rolf catwalk show from a few years ago where videos were projected onto the fashion as the models strutted their stuff.  We're not big fans of this awful nautical trend that appears to be happening around town right now, but at least this scheme is more swimming pool than seafaring malarkey.

Topshop, London

We always look at the key trends which are predicted to happen almost two years in advance through looking at some of the main trend agency sites, magazines and luxury brands and therefore seeing some of these trends again now feels slightly odd. We had forgotten momentarily that of course these 'things' take time to filter down to the high street brands and although a year later than we would have expected, here we have at least one of them.  Mondrian and references to Memphis are one of the main areas that we've tracked through over the past 12 months and of course Topshop always present these things with such wonderful style and creativity.

Cos, London

We're beginning to see a whole series of 'Benjamin-Button-Visual Merchandising-type' scenario's happening around town right now which is most odd.  Topshop is referencing Memphis and Mondrian, Hilfiger and Juicy are doing Nautical and Cos are doing this dip-dyed effect again (bottom image).  We do love what these guys are doing but not so long ago (actually Summer 2010) they were dip dying their mannequins in Blue.  Whats going on guys.....we were all leaping so far forward and now we seem to be going into reverse?

BHS, London

Louis Vuitton one day BHS the next.....what a contrast...!  We have to confess that BHS (or British Homes Stores, for those of you reading this around the world) is not the first place that we would come  to look for home ware. For those of you in the UK, is it yours?  Possibly not.  However, how incredibly sexy and delicious does this look?  The colours and textures look amazing, we love the wood and the concrete plinths (are they concrete? who knows, but they look it) and the fantastic urban feel of this scheme makes everything look wonderfully desirable.  Get ya'self down to your local store we reckon and check this stuff out.  Job well done we'd say.  (Oh...and we love the reference to Valentines-ish....without a damned bloody awful heart motif in site..!  See, it can be done.)

Louis Vuitton, London

We're always so excited when a new Louis Vuitton scheme is implemented and judging by our stats., on Louis -Vuitton-entry-day, it seems so are you..!  Anyway, here's a couple of snippets for you to whet your appetites.  Of course, there's nothing better than seeing this in the 'flesh' so wherever you are in the world, it may already be at your local store.  Big Balloons and Big Bling......these guys tell everyone else what they should be doing, don't they?

Fenwicks, London

What on earth is happening at Fenwicks?  One minute we couldn't even give them a cursory glance and now we cant wait to see what they do next; and just keep coming back to get our fix.  These guys are looking hotter than ever and we have no idea who's behind it all but we must say guys, you look fantastic.  Someone has breathed new life into this dinosaur-of-a-brand, gripped it by the 'you-know-whats', and fiercely so.  We love it and couldn't wait to share it.  We were going to show you the new Louis Vuitton scheme as they have just recently installed which we want to share but they've had to move down the bench. We will show you what they are doing sometime this week.  Brilliant team Fenwicks. (we haven't shown the whole scheme here so please do go and look for yourself.....we love the optical illusions..!)

London Visual Merchandising Talent Search

If you have been itching for a career in Visual Merchandising then here's a fantastic opportunity for you..!

RedBorder Ltd. are a specialist consultancy and recruitment service to the retail sector and they are launching a London-wide talent search for the most creative and best Visual Merchandisers in London to become part of the UK’s first VM Squad and work with a wide array of retailers on our high streets.

If you live in one of London's boroughs and would like to be one of the lucky 33 selected to become part of the RedBorder VM Squad you have to apply and submit your submission via Facebook.  Nominees from each borough will be shortlisted and the most talented, creative submissions will be voted by the public.

Deborah Millington, Director of RedBorder Ltd said, “We are constantly searching for the best Visual Merchandising talent for the future. This talent search allows the best in London to showcase their skills and become one of the elite Visual Merchandisers in the country”.

As a member of the RBVM Squad you will be part of a team that will work with a variety of retailers to execute their Visual Merchandising strategy throughout the year.  

So, to become part of the exclusive RBVM 

Squad, candidates need to:

Submit a copy of your resume

Have 3 accompanying photos of your most recent work

In no more than 100 words state why you should represent their borough as a Visual Merchandiser

Last date for entries is, 5.00pm, 15th March 2013

Public voting will take place between the 23rd  - 29th March

For full terms and conditions, visit https://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/311820  If you have any further questions please:  Email: info@redborder.co.uk or Tel: 020 7100 4052 

Selfridges, London

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