Redefining everything we ever thought about window shopping, these creative window displays will stop anyone in their tracks. As a mix of art, fashion, design and marketing, they not only have to quickly grab our attention they must compel us to enter a store. By giving people an experience, these displays also have the important duty of helping define a brand's image. As window displays have started becoming more like amazing art installations or fantastic scenes from a movie, we can only imagine the time spent beforehand – conceptualizing, planning and installing. How wonderful is it, though, when your art comes to life…like this?
Lanvin's Windswept Fashion
What could be more simple but beautiful than this? Lanvin's Paris windows make mannequins come to life. Wearing colorful dresses and those priceless expressions, these mannequins will make just about anyone crack a smile. [link]
Louis Vuitton: You're Under Surveillance
Just how coveted are those Louis Vuitton handbags? Enough to make a swarm of surveillance cameras stand on high alert. This creative window display makes us think we're constantly being watched by Big Brother. Then again..maybe if we're holding a Louis we become an instant celebrity! Hello, paparazzi! [link]
Calvin Klein's Pillow Talk Cases
The windows of the Calvin Klein Collection store on East 60th Street in New York devoted pairs of pillows to some of the world's most celebrated couples. The installation is a response to a particular work – ‘Pillow Talk Bed' – by artist Jonathan Horowitz, which was featured at MoMA's PS1 space. Don't we just love the Barack and Michelle pillows? [link]
J. Crew's Sweet Ice Cream
What better way to show off your pearls than by dripping them over ice cream? J. Crew does a fabulous job of displaying their jewelry in a super sweet way. [link]
Maison Herms Window Display by Tokujin Yoshioka
The Maison Herms window display in Tokyo has been designed by the Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka. The store front uses timed videos of a woman blowing and hidden fans to highlight one of Hermes's most iconic accessories, their silk scarves. The installation will run from now until January 19th, 2010. Simply brilliant! [link]
Tiffany's Fantastic Fairy Tale
Artist Zoe Bradley uses paper to create these amazing window installations for everyone from Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton to Missoni and Donna Karan. These highly detailed, artistic pieces are the perfect backdrop for any luxury item. [link]
Bergdorf Goodman Post-It Art
Though we've seen post-it art done a million times over, we can't help but appreciate these window displays for Bergdorf Goodman. Take a step back and you'll see the faces of famous people, like this one of the girl with the pearl earring.
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Galeries Lafayette Department Store in Paris by David Lynch
One of Paris' biggest department stores, Les Galeries Lafayette, invited David Lynch to design 11 of their store windows which he based on the theme Machines, Abstraction and Women. This one, titled Woman with a Dream, featured a fully functional model train that drove non-stop along the tracks. As he describes, “I see these windows like a labyrinth, a street museum where to move through indices. A window, it is a transparent door on the unknown.” [link]
The Apifera window installation for Selfridges Store
The Selfridges store in London asked Matthew Plummer Fernandez to create this window installation. The project uses the analogy of shops being plants, shoppers being bees, and shop windows being flowers; the part of a plant specialized in attracting bees. Taking inspiration from the science of attraction developed in flowers, the complex fractal geometry responds and changes its breathing rate according to the daylight and passers-by. [link]
Bergdorf Goodman's Fantastic Mr. Fox Dinner
Guess who's coming to dinner? How about the characters from Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox! This 2009 holiday window display is at the Bergdorf Goodman men's store right now. Make sure you check it out before it's gone!
[link]
Barney's Santa's Fair Trade Sweatshop
Back in 2007, Barney's New York featured amazing window displays under their “green” holiday campaign. In this display, titled Santa's Fair Trade Sweatshop, elves surround the 12 Green Days of Christmas list, which includes six compost toilets. Leave it to Barney's to make something so weird, wacky and wonderful. [link]
Barney's Saturday Night Live X-Mas
Barneys New York creative director Simon Doonan built this year's windows around famous Saturday Night Live sketches. Who doesn't remember the conehead caricatures? Cool fact! Barney's artistic team became so obsessed with the Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd aliens from Remulak that the Coneheads got their own vignette in the windows. On the record player, you'll find a Con-ie Francis album and the bookshelves filled with “Cone With the Wind” and “Conehead Revisited.”
[link]
Apple for iPod Hi-Fi
Apple's window displays shatters all our preconceived notions on what a store window should look like. For its new iPod Hi-Fi, it simulated a broken window in front of a iPod Hi-Fi sound component. Way to shake it up, Apple!
[link]
Vuitton & Murakami's: Multicolore “Wrapped”
The world renowned artist Takashi Murakami joined forces with Louis Vuitton to “wrap” the prominent flagship store with its signature “33 colors” for 2008's holiday season. “The idea to wrap the Fifth Avenue maison in Monogram Multicolore came about in an effort to do something truly unique for the holiday season,” said Daniel Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America. How I would have loved walking past this store! [link]
Sony/Spiderman
Sony Style in New York brought Spider-Man to life in celebration of the movie, “Spider-Man 3.” Those lucky enough to walk by caught a glimpse of the superhero and his new villains, Sandman and Venom, on display inside the the Sony Store on Madison Ave, which includes movie clips displayed on LCD screens and scent air technology. More than six windows displayed scenes from the latest movie, which finds Peter Parker facing his toughest demon yet – himself – as he struggles to comprehend the enhanced powers his new black suit offers him. What an amazing way to capture the full attention of those passing by! [link]
