Market Day, London

We've been scouring the markets around London this weekend looking for those elusive and delicious finds for clients.  This is a great way to add interesting props to a window, particularly if you can find several of one type in order to place in a repetition format (not always an easy task due to the nature of markets).  What is also helpful is having several concepts to work with before you go in case you cant find that James Bond 1960's globe style TV (we did see one) or the taxidermy to send PETA into a frenzy.  As always, the only limitation is your imagination, oh and budgets of course although you can get some great bargains too.

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Uniglo, London

We've seen the use of Umbrellas from Prada to Primark and everyone else in between, but somehow this scheme does actually look rather cool.  We did feel a sigh coming on and a kind of oh-no-not-umbrellas-again-yawn but we have to say that due to the scale of this store along Oxford street, this scheme did look, well, not so much interesting, but it did have a certain impact, so job well done we guess.

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Stella McCartney, London

We make no secret that we are not huge fans of the windows at this brand but hands up this one is quite a corker.  We love a bit of neon lighting and the graphic imagery does work very well from an emotional response rather than a technical point of view.  The mannequins poses do lack any fluidity however and appear a little startled or stood waiting outside of the headmistresses office.  Or is that just us?

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H&M, London

Rocking the tropical look is H&M right now.  We've been tracking this trend for some months now so we may be seeing the end of it as nearly everyone is in Sale at the moment and this scheme has been around for at least 3 weeks. No doubt it will change soon? So, we thought we would just slip it in at the last moment in case you haven't seen it.

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Smile Brilliant FREE Competition

This week we have teamed up with those lovely guys at Smile Bright in the USA to bring you this fantastic opportunity.  Over the past few weeks we have been road testing this product and it really does work incredibly well and just as they say it does.  We're not going to flash our old gnashers here so you will have to take our word for it. However, if you want the White teeth you've always craved but don't have the cash or simply want to give it a go then you could WIN one of these amazing kits worth $179.00 for FREE, yes FREE..!                        
Just check out this video....!

                                        

OK, all you have to do is to answer the question below and the first correct answer drawn randomly one week from now wins.....!...Yay...!  So, answers to us at londonart@hotmail.com with Smile Bright Competition at the top of your email by 8th July, 2014, 12.00 GMT.

The Question
Which London Department store was first opened by Charles Henry Harrod?

• Selfridges
• Harrods
• Harvey Nichols

So easy it hurts.......good luck....!

Terms and Conditions

• Closing Date for entries is 12.00 GMT 8th July 2014.
• Only one (1) entry per person.
• www.retailstorewindows.com  reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without prior notice, to withdraw, cancel, suspend or modify the terms of the offer.
• By entering this competition, personal information of registrants will not be sold to a third party.
• Anonymous registrants will not be eligible for the offer.
• The winner will be selected at random within seven (7) days of the competition closing date and contacted via the email address provided at the time of entry by a member of the retailstorewindows team to redeem their code.
• Prize must be claimed within ninety (90) days of issue or will become invalid.
• No purchase necessary.
• The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative is available. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Calvin Klein, Milan

Images Courtesy and Copyright www.artevetrinaproject.it

Well that made you look, right?  Looking super sexy and super seductive are the 8 windows at La Rinascente Duomo in the fabulous Milan right now celebrating the launch of the brands Dual Tone underwear.  Good old bum forms and illuminated tube lighting from those gorgeous guys at www.artevetrinaproject.it in a super masculine Blue with a vinyl strap line encouraging you to show the world yours.  Are you brave enough?

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Marco Polo, Wittwer, Stuttgart, Germany

Images courtesy and copyright arno-online.com

 If you happen to be shopping at Wittwer the incredible book store in Stuttgart, Germany then do swing by and check out the latest Marco Polo installation.  We hopefully all face the same exciting decision of choosing our next holiday so what better place to look?  Arno, the designers here, showcases brands at the point of sale, created shops in shops and interactive systems.  Just check out their website at www.arno-online.com

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Miss. Selfridge, London

We visited the store a few days ago so they may have changed the scheme by now although we wanted to include them as they do look so incredibly delicious.  We have no little pearls of wisdom to offer of any significant comments, just that enormous flowers have been used in the scheme which is positioned overall in a pyramidal format.  That's it really, just a nice scheme.

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Jack Wills, London

Mercifully this brand is under new creative direction and we can include them without sighing and moaning about what they look like.  Some of their stores really do look so incredibly cool that we have been popping back to see what they are doing.  When we first included this brand we did say rather mean stuff about them and we did have a few emails from members of the visual team complaining about our comments and so we didn't look at them again.  Well, actually we did but just didn't show you.  Anyway, the brand is clearly finding its feet and look so good.

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Chanel, London

We don't like what this brand do normally as regular readers will know, however, hands up these guys have never looked better.  With their saloon bar installation which is enormous fun and a great narrative our faith may be restored yet.  Thankfully someone here knows how to look after a luxury brand and now we can swing by more often confident that we will see something more than the usual ordinary stuff that we have seen for so very, very long.  Phew.

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Esprit, London

Esprit always seem to manage to produce such wonderfully simple schemes which clearly communicate their intentions so well.  Of course we would all love to see something a little more lavish but then that's stingy budgets for you.  So cu'mon Esprit budget holders, give these guys some slack and support the talent that they clearly have and stop holding them back from making your brand look even better.

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J Crew, London

We've noticed recently that these guys always switch their window lights off at night time so its always tricky to capture what they do.  But not this time as we visited during the daytime.  There appears to be a leaning towards repetition of various objects happening in their schemes recently and this one, using ice creams does look rather interesting (as a background at least)  We just wish the brand would organise their mannequins and bust forms into some kind or narrative (other than a Police line up) to generate a little bit of excitement rather than applying any styling at all and using this generic presentation formula? 

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Oasis, London

How these guys manage to pull off these schemes is quite incredible.  With their boat-hut style props, Blue sky backdrops and neon clouds this scheme is oozing Summer right now.  Of course, every boat has a name and included here are Stage Door Sally, The Argyll adventurer and West End Wonder.  An all round great fun scheme.

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