Smythson, London

Looking very architecturally dynamic is Smythson right now along Bond street in the heart of Luxe-land.  The product here of course is absolutely superb and mostly quite small in what is actually a relatively large space.  There lies the problem.  How do you show small products in such a large space effectively?  Well, no easy task unless you wish to go down the same route as brands such as Tiffany, i.e. small showcase window spaces, although this does mean that you are unable to see inside the main store space.  Here at Smythson, they have overcome this issue by adopting a muli-plinth and multi-level approach where each product has been allocated its own space at varying heights and therefore allowing the passing footfall to scan across multi-potential purchases.  A clean and crisp job we thought. 

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Selfridges, London

If you want to view retail store windows at their finest then you must go and have a look at Selfridges right now and their 'Meet the Makers' narratives.  We know what these windows are all about as not only do the brand write it on their windows, but, and this is quite noteworthy we thought, they also include the information on their website too.  We have of course noticed this before now although it is worth highlighting as so few brands (if any?) actually include any information at all.  In fact some brands appear to completely miss the point of their windows.
If you want to meet the 'makers', whether cheese makers, brewers, bakers or maybe a Gin maker then do swing by and get involved.  Otherwise just check out their website and see what you may be missing out on.  Amazing stuff.

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Dolce and Gabbana, London

Absolutely stunningly detailed merchandise covered in tiny sequins and large ceramic half parasols are being presented here at Dolce and Gabbana, London right now.  We are rather in awe of the merchandise here although the bust forms are doing them no favours at all, are they?  Some articulated arms would help to communicate the elegance of the product rather than presenting it as it was possibly produced in their studios?  Otherwise the presentation is superb.

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Daks, London

We cant quite remember why we took these images.  OK, well obviously it has a link to Paul Weller and our post on twitter of the above image sent it all a bit bonkers because it is Paul Weller, but apart from that, as their website entries haven't been updated for the past 2.5 weeks (very slack marketing for a premium brand) we are actually unable to find references to this promotion apart from a picture of, well, Paul Weller.  Oh its just all so lacking in communication guys.  Cu'mon shape up a bit a just tell us what you are doing?  You are currently waving at us in the dark; you know what you are doing but the rest of us don't??  Its not rocket science.  Oh, the brand are celebrating 120 years, great, OK, we knew that anyway.

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Mathew Williamson, London

We thought we were seeing the end of this Tropical trend but it is still lingering.  Trends of this kind usual flow downwards from luxury to the mind range brands and beyond, although the curve is clearly flattening as we have already seen the tropical trend at the mid rangers, so essentially it would normally have moved on.   This one has to be one of our favourites.  Just look at those head pieces.  Hilarious fun and great to see this brand doing some interesting windows again.  We've missed them.

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Liberty, London

Flowers of Liberty.  Nice concept and your mum will no doubt love it.  We're not sure this brand would want to hear that, but this is what is being projected right now.  Repetition of oven gloves and totes; safe, cosy and mumsy.  Come on Liberty get back in the cutting edge humour saddle that taps into the vibe on the street rather than whiffing of what happened in suburban London in the '70's and the antics of Tom, Barbara, Margot and Jerry?  We've seen some amazing schemes at this brand but sadly not this one.  Cu'mon guys you normally do some really fantastic stuff.

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Tiffany, London

We couldn't quite work out what the latest scheme at Tiffany is?  Anyone know?  We are guessing that this references their Atlas collection but we are not entirely sure.  However, the scheme does appear to have quite architectural references nonetheless and the combinations of vertical, horizontal lines, radiation and the step have been used here.  Other than that we are pretty clueless on this one.

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Fenwick, London

This brand just gets better and better and just look at this scheme.  We are sniffing a potential shoe lounge coming along and what better place to visit than here at Fenwick.  Are we gushing?  Well, yes, but only because we are so excited that this brand in their prime site are looking so damned, bleedin', fricking amazing and where they always should have been but didn't go until fairly recently.  Just get yourself down there and have a look for yourself.  Out sized props, giant shoe boxes and fun, fun, fun by the bucket load and we love it.  Spread the word.  Fenwick looks fantastic.

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Dior, London

We rarely if ever include hoardings on this site as they are usually so ordinary that we always consider its worth and whether they may actually be even interesting to you as followers or readers.  If you are not sure what a hoarding is then in simple terms it is the temporary and usually wooden structure that surrounds a retail space or building site during construction and normally has either a brand image printed on it of the brand that is about to move in or who may be renovating or the name of the construction company.  It may be called something else where you live but essentially it does the same job of protecting the passerby (this one is a very grand version).  We literally stumbled across this one at Dior and had to share it with you as it really is the best thing we have ever seen coming from this brand.  Who would have thought, eh?  Well, anyway, if you happen to be in London then do swing by their store opposite LV along Bond street and take a closer look.  If you stand in the spot where we took the image immediately below then this 3-D image appears, however the reality is the image below that.  We're not easily impressed but this does provide a few minutes of entertainment and a great optical illusion.    

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Hackett, London

If anyone knows how to do Sale with style then its certainly Hackett.  In conjunction with those super talented guys at Harlequin (check out their website here http://www.harlequin-design.com or click on their banner on the side of the main page).  With their clever references to Hitchcock, beautifully produced out sized props and graphic backdrop you cant help but smile at this clever interpretation. 

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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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