Sotheby's, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright Millington Associates

Who knew that auction houses could look so good?  In their first collaboration with this world renowned brand, the guys at Millington Associates have delivered this incredible scheme for Pierre Berge and a Chinese Art window which demonstrates the contrasting methods used in Chinese printing with ink on parchment.  The props here have been hand sculptured by Millington Associates and include an antique aged calligraphy brush, water bowl and traditional ink cake for the Chinese window.  So great to see that Visual Merchandising skills and knowledge is extending beyond the traditional retail brands along the high street and opening up the possibilities of what this area of Design can be. 

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Fendi, London

An enormously fun scheme here at Fendi right now.  We've included a detail of the props above as they can be easily missed in overall still images and how great are these light bulbs with handbags which form the filament.  The repetition is broken up with intermittent fluffy bulbs.  The light bulbs (or rather lamps) are placed in a repetition format across the back wall to form the backdrop to the product.  You can see the overall scheme in our video here too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4XWqR2YLs

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Louis Vuitton, London

Looking as sparkly as ever Louis Vuitton's Maison along Bond street shines like a beacon across one of the most expensive real estate sites in the world.  Everyone appears to be doing a lot of metallic finishes this Christmas and this scheme with its digital technology surrounding a Silver finished undressed mannequin is quite something to view.  Incidentally, if you are interested in this brand, do check out their latest book by Assouline here http://www.assouline.com/louis-vuitton-windows.html  With an eye watering $845 price tag it is a little pricey but great for anyone who has an interest in this area of design.  You can also check out our video here for a closer look at this scheme and its video screens.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAs5GfAXQqk

Check out our fantastic sponsors below for incredible Visual Merchandising solutions or click on the banners on the side of the main page at www.retailstorewindows.com  We will hopefully see you at the Awards next week...!

New Look, London

We last included this brand on this site over 5 years ago and we were rather less than favourable in our comments. Yeah, OK, we know we can be brutal and dismissive although we tend to tell it like it is and if no-one says anything, whether you may disagree with us or not, then nothing will ever change; or at least not very quickly.  More often than not we do focus a lot on luxury brands and the reasons for this are of course, that luxury brands invest so heavily in their Visual Merchandising, we have something interesting to show you and very often the creativity and originality is quite a spectacle.  However, we are seeing brands like this shout a little louder and nudge themselves onto our radar and we feel compelled to include them as they appear to have turned their schemes around quite phenomenally.  Christmas of course is the time when just about everyone splashes the cash around and invests just a little more in their schemes as they fight ever harder in turn for our cash.  We've also read in the press that New Look are snatching (in a good and competitive way) some of the customers who would normally shop at M&S; this is no easy task for sure and clearly they have the 'right' kind of merchandise to attract that kind of customer.  Along Oxford street this is certainly a worthy contender for cool seasonal schemes and we really hope these guys will invest more and more in their presentation into and beyond 2016 so that we can all continue to be excited, keep talking about them and keep them on our retailstorewin-dar.

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Debenhams, London

A very impressive scheme here at Debenhams right now we thought.  Sparkling and glowing across Oxford Street, we often find ourselves willing this brand to be a little more risque but appreciate that it needs to speak to the wider audience although they've certainly cracked it this year.  Hundreds, possibly thousands of illuminated stars shine from these enormous windows with a digital campaign that even a luxury brand would be proud of.  Super cool scheme guys.

You can check out our video below or via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKISgIAIBbo

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Ralph Lauren, London

Ralph Lauren have recently launched their latest scheme at their monolithic store along Bond street.  Wonderfully subtle with their (nearly) monochromatic scheme representing a lifestyle beyond most of us and beautifully presented as always.  The presentation overall appears as a photoshoot within an interior space with heaps of grandeur and not an ounce of faded glory in sight (we prefer the faded glory look ourselves) but of course the scheme emulates the core values of the brand superbly.  We cant wait to see what they have done in NYC.  You can see our video here which gives a more detailed overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByQX8ycMncc

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Desigual, London

We're just popping this in here today before we fully launch into Christmas.  We're huge fans of this brand as they differentiate themselves from the rest of the high street so incredibly well.  Loving their Coats this week is a sure sign that Winter is clearly here and of course the party season is in full swing.  Check out our video of this small window with huge personality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fguNvCJ200Y

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Moschino, London

Moschino is sporting the New York subway look right now at their store along Conduit street here in the centre of it all.  Its difficult to say much more about this without being highly critical but it does what it does we guess.  Some better lighting would have been beneficial of course as the scheme is quite dark.  You can see more detail in our video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS7nn0u8Ep8

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Michael Kors, London

Wow, Michael Kors finally have a scheme at their London store for us to show you.  We have (we think) included one of this brands stores in New York before now although the London store usually sticks to a fixture in the window (a little like the rather disappointing YSL store along Bond street) with masses of handbags in a repetition format.  Not much opportunity to be creative there then.  However someone has clearly seen the light and thankfully we have an installation we can show to you.  Product and props are suspended in this gravitational format in at least a part of their large windows with a #charming strap line.  Lets keep them coming guys?

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Harvey Nichols, London

Images Courtesy and Copyright Harvey Nichols

We couldn't hold back showing these to you as they really are staggering.  Upping the ante in Christmas schemes, Harvey Nichols windows are show stopping stuff.  We passed by the other evening and were blown away by this scheme.  We normally hate Christmas schemes but this has won us over.  Inspired by the party wear of the season, Studio 54, the windows feature over sized faces crafted from 15,000 gift boxes, with disco balls, baubles, stars and ribbon.  To give you an idea of the work involved here, approximately 1 million flakes of glitter were used, 301,000 sequins, 620 mirror balls, 540 baubles and 3259m2 of fabric are contained within this installation.  If there is one scheme you must go and see, just to experience it, it should be this one.  

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Jimmy Choo, London

OK, strap yourselves in, batten down the hatches, here comes a Christmas scheme.  How great to see Jimmy Choo investing in some fantastic props and actually looking rather like Moncler right now.  Screaming out to their core customers, i.e. the very wealthy, these ski lift chairs within this scene look brilliant, particularly as the size of the windows at this store along Bond street are so tiny.  Great to see a narrative around this product although a shame that the shutters are kept down which slightly kills the impact.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-JqHhxRO38

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Massimo Dutti, London

This is an unusual and welcomed change at Massino Dutti who normally seem to produce every scheme in a Caramel colour with a life-sized plastic horse (ok we are exaggerating about the life-sized horses in every scheme but you know what we mean).  This scheme however is a huge departure from their usual stuff and here we have a magnificently detailed scheme which no doubt took some time to install.  We're aren't absolutely sure if this is their Christmas scheme although we guess the clue here is the wooden Reindeer (well, Stag probably) which can be viewed in our video (not a Christmas tree in sight - phew).  Do check this one out if you can however as it does whiff a little of RL but in a good way.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKb_7E7KanY

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Don't forget to buy your tickets....!

Dover St. Market, London

Featuring the work of Roger Ballen right now, Dover st. Market as usual is not following the masses but doing what it does best.  A slightly disturbing scheme nonetheless.  We have spotted a range of Christmas schemes already launched and some in mid-installation so we are resisting as much as we can in including those schemes this week as, as we know it drags on for an eternity and its great to capture a little more of AW15 than zoom in on illuminated trees and baubles by the truck load.  We have a short video as usual here which we hope indicates this scheme in a little more detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ4TXEdnD48

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