Liberty, London

This brand rarely fail to impress and we adore the fun that they inject into their schemes.  While not the most lavish of schemes, it is of course a wonderful surprise not to view the dreaded Sale schemes which still haunt us around town.  With their 'Cut out and Keep' installation, simply but beautifully produced we can't help but keep following them to see what they do next.

Prada, London

With their waffle backdrop and chequered floor the merry widows at Prada empty their brightly coloured handbags in search of their dearly departed husbands will.  Meanwhile, random shoes keep watch over the spectacle.

Asprey, London

Did you see the Christmas windows at this brand?  If not then we did make a short video if you check out our YouTube site as it was quite spectacular.  Of course its that time of year again when everything seems to almost go into slow motion and by comparison of course the latest scheme, while not looking exactly flat, doesn't quite have the wow factor.  But then, we guess, that's what makes Christmas schemes so special.  It is of course a beautiful quality installation nonetheless.

Berlutti, London

This brand appears to have gone from strength to strength visually over the past year.  Its seems, at least from the outside looking in that this is an old brand which has been injected with a refreshing amount of creativity, although not so much that it changes the brand so completely to alienate its core customers (whoever they are) although personally we rather like radical changes.  Blowing off the dust and cobwebs is a good thing and adding a teeny bit of humour here with the use of the saddles strategically placed as if they are trophy heads / skulls ticks the boxes very nicely.  We know these brands read this site, so come on guys, if you are reading this in your dark dusty boardroom, possibly with the whiff of damp trouser hanging in the air from the old guys who have been there for decades and hold the purse strings; lets keep the creativity coming and push those boundaries, eh?

Ralph Lauren, London

Thankfully there is some great theatre on the streets at the moment and of course Ralph Lauren never fails to impress us.  The lavishness and detail of their schemes is quite beautiful and this one, even though simple by comparison to their usual offering is no exception.  It is always quite a risk 'hybridising' mannequins.  What we mean by that is placing them in positions in which they were never designed to be.  However, it was extremely difficult to tell whether the ballerina figure had been hybridised as the guys here have handled it so incredibly well.  We've never seen a ballerina mannequin figure so we are guess that they have worked their magic on this one? 

Louis Vuitton, London

We do honestly look forward to this brands' presentation as we never really know where they are going to go next.  OK, well, Christmas was just a smidge generic and didn't really float our boat, but hey look at this little gem.  If you happen to be in London then do go and check out this scheme.  If you are a fan of post-modernism then this will definitely draw you in.  We've always been huge fans of the post-modernist period, although of course we are ( almost nearly) all post-modernists whether we like it or not simply by our age.  

Anyway, Le Corbusier is certainly one on our list of favourite architects even if he did leave us with hideous tower blocks with graffiti covered pilotis in just about every city in the world which quite honestly just don't work as we know.  There is a very long debate here and this is just a sound-bite so we cant go into that much detail.  

Charlotte Perriand is someone who we had never heard of previously and we are rather ashamed to admit it, although here we have references and a big old giant nod to this incredible female who was apparently famously rejected by Le Corbusier with a "We are sorry but we don't embroider cushions here".  Ouch.  Sadly, if he had employed her originally the world may have looked just that little bit better.  Anyway, do look her up as there is a fascinating story behind this woman from which this brand have drawn references.

Tiffany, London

Its nearly that time of year again,  Yes, Valentines is creeping up on us led once again by the luxe brands.  Here at Tiffany Golden arrows point directly to the product (just in case we cant see it).  Fantastic quality scheme as always but why oh why do we have use the usual horrible motifs?

Hackett, London

If the rain here on the streets of London is not enough for you then why not pop to Hackett and let it rain in store for you too?  Oh those clever boys and girls at Hackett have done it again and what a corker of a scheme.  Its been a long time since we've seen running water in a scheme, possibly not since Liberty in the 90's and a hairdressing salon in Tokyo in the 00's, so it really is refreshing to see this gem.  But why not push those boundaries a little further; real ice?  Will Westminster Council and the Crown Estate allow Fire?  Yeah go for it guys?  Are we being mischievous?  Damn right.

Daks, London

We really want to love what this brand do but right now we are struggling to appreciate this one.  OK, well we understand the anniversary connections and all of the props, but maybe this just could have been rather more 'meaty'?  Right now as a passerby the scheme does appear a little like a diorama from a museum display rather than a cool fashion installation, but that's just us, or is it?

Tods, London

OK, well we can go two directions with this one.  On the one hand we have seen this scheme at Tods before (well the fixtures at least) although are they actually being sustainable and reusing 'bits' from previous schemes because they care about the environment or have they run out of ideas?  We can only wonder? 

Alexander McQueen, London

We've been passing by this scheme here at McQueen for some time now and keep meaning to include them.  Of course this is one of our absolute favourite brands for creativity in spaces which are extremely difficult to work with.  Anyway, let us know what you think?

Diptyque, London

This was another one of those schemes that slipped through the net just before Christmas which we just didn't have the time to show.  Of course with Sale still upon us, we thought it was worthwhile including this one while the rest of the high street remains a sea of Red.  Here at Diptyque with what are actually quite difficult windows to work with they have included these incredible peacocks.  We're not sure of the material that these are made from but they are super cool nonetheless, don't you think?

G-Star Raw, London

We've gradually warmed to this brand; some are slow burners we suppose.  Anyway, doing their bit for recycling, G-Star have dusted off their old skeleton and wrapped it up ready for Sale time.  We did see this last year so on the one hand we would have liked to see something new, but, hey, sustainability an' all that.