…I would have liked to have been a Window Dresser. Back in my interior design days I got to prop out model condos….it was the closest I got to the fleeting fantasticness. I never got to witness Lisa’s store but I can imagine she had killer windows. Before I show you some of the pictures from the Window Watching last weekend I want to remind you of two cool books on the subject: Dreams Through the Glass by Linda Fargo of Bergdorf Goodman, and Confessions of a Window Dresser by Simon Doonan of Barneys. There are more…but that’s a good start.
It’s really hard to get good pictures of windows when your purpose is to show what’s inside. I’ll just say that it’s worth the trip into the city every Christmas just to see what Bergdorf Goodman will blow us away with. The other department stores have respectable vignettes, but BG is the master. I only have a few shots to show you today, but you get the idea.
Their theme this year was Tony Duquette, famed interior designer who….well, read up on him HERE. The five main windows were set as Air Water Fire Earth and Light, design directed by David Hoey. The side windows are always just as interesting. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO, showing some behind-the-scenes and commentary about the 2007 windows.
Details of shells along the window frame and back wall taken just for Lisa.
The windows around one side were based on opposites. There was Naughty or Nice, Fact or Fiction, and this: Lady or Tiger.
My most favorite thing was a mini display in one of the niche-type windows at the front of the store where they had jewelry or something showcased. I didn’t even notice because I was too star struck with the other details. The white valance here is cut from PAPER….and as Jenny noted, even the tassles were made from cut and rolled paper. Like these tassles were about 1/2" long. And check out the fringe! Utterly cool. With all this glamour and fuss, the take-away for me was this one little thing.
We know they work all year long getting ready for the unveiling late November, and then Poof! The windows are filled with something else by January. I can imagine how much fun it must be to gather all this cool stuff, have items fabricated, and then install them. Don’t ya wonder where it all goes after?
In case you missed the link above, go see this video clip: HERE I’ve seen a few documentaries on the holiday windows over the years. I think it’s Lord & Taylor that have their displays on a hydraulic lift that drops down to the basement level where they can work on them out-of-view until they are ready to be hoisted back into position. I vote for a t.v. special every year showing us all the windows of all major department stores around the world and the clever artists who make them happen. In fact, the product displays within a store are just as fascinating, regardless of the season, so there could be a whole television series showing us something inventive about retail merchandising every week! Someone call Bravo. (Or did I miss something and they already have a show about that?)
