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Fashion Windows: Selfridges – Autumn Brights Sep 2011

Tags: Selfridges

Fashion Windows: Selfridges – spring is blooming May 2011

Contrast to last summer season of minimal props with window displays (which we also love love love and you may view here), Selfridges London is back with a boom for the bloom. The whole atmosphere is vivid, fun and colourful and happy mood. Of course it’s spring and of course it’s flowery…but the mushroom props just make you smile and add on the thoughtful edginess. Below here are the evidence.

Tags: Selfridges

This Other Night

This other night, passing Selfridges…got caught by another sexy ad by Tom Ford’s new launched perfume – Neroli Portofino

A bubble wall was created on the window of Selfridges with all bubbles risen upwards…

Tom knows how to sell his product….of course…always sexually…

Tags: Selfridges, Tom Ford

rotsaniyom – Siam Square

Siam Square in Bangkok is not really a big empty square. In fact it is filled with tiny shops, boutiques, restaurants and massage places. Walking around all the Soi (which means road in Thai) you may discover some rather original design boutiques. I’ve been lucky to find this one called ‘rosaniyom’.

The front gate is a rusty iron gate…

First look at the cashier desk, you would think it’s a vintage store….but this little boutique is not only about the vintage style.

Its designer clearly loves ‘vintage girlie style’….lace is quite a dominant material not only in making in those clothes, but as well in decorating the boutique….

…different weights and patterns of lace and printed chiffon are main materials….

the abstract feather print is used in various garments, like in this scollop edge sheered vest… Styles are rather neutral instead of girlie girlie….there’re baggy dusty pink T-shirt printed with vintage ink sketched wolf, lace short sleeve boxy crop shirt, crochet long line boyfriend cardi, sheered chiffon black maxi….

….forest animals are also a main theme within its current season…owls, wolfs and deers…they all have a quite vintage ink print feeling….

following scarf print is a perfect example to reflex designer’s thoughts….shame it was printed on a smaller scale of scarf which is 60 x 60cm. If it were bigger, I would have purchased it. It was printed with very clear quality on sheered polyester chiffon.

Broderie Angleise tote is so cute with raw tan leather handles….

….near the front gate where the scarves are draped, there was this little stuffed deer standing, draped with pearl chain necklace…

For your information, ‘rotsaniyom’ at Siam Square Soi 5, nearest station is Siam Square on SkyTrain line. They also have a stall at Jatujak Weekkend Market Section 2, every Saturday and Sunday.

Fashion Windows: Dallas (Northpark) November 2010

Kate Spade

The holiday season is over us and the designer boutiques and department stores have started rolling out their christmas and winter displays. Some are really subtle, some are really in your face, whilst some are so plain that you can’t really tell it’s a christmas window. More pictures after the jump.

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Tags: Barney's, Bottega Venetta, Burberry, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, Oscar de la Renta, versace

Gossip of the Shoes

Two cleaners smoking and gossiping in front of Selfridges futuristic shoe window.

Tags: Selfridges

Fashion Windows: Selfridges – a work in progress October 2010

After dinner at Busaba Ethai just behind Selfridges last night, we spotted lots of people wheeling props and trees on to the road. Suddenly I realised I was now witnessing how Selfridges make their amazing windows. This was the first time I had actually seen them making the windows, witnessing a work in progress.

This is the east side of Selfridges, people were gathering at the corner window display as I walked up towards them.

A little peak of  the funny Lacoste window. Starting from the east side corner and walking up to the front, I still couldn’t figure out what the main theme was this time…

…I got even more confused when I saw the Havaianas display in the next window, thinking to myself -’what are they trying to build?’

The visual merchandising people were working inside the window display. They were communicating with team members outside via mobile phones. Ah, technology. Wonder how they used to do this back in the day.

I really thought this was going to be a regular window until I saw staff installing tons of pine branches and star lights around the windows. I suddenly realised that this was their christmas display! The christmas displays at Selfridges are always spectacular. I felt lucky to be witnessing this work in progress. Although this was the christmas display, I still couldn’t figure out the main theme this time though.

TOYS?!!

…and more TOYS??

…and more…

even MOOOOOOORE….and stuffed TOOOOYYYYS….

…and…A FUN HOUSE!

While all the other fashion department stores here in London are digging their brains, trying to come up with a spectacular and extravagant fashion theme for their christmas windows, Selfridges has done it once again and surprised everyone – with a series of christmas windows dedicated to toys. Who said toys are only for children? The windows had all sorts of toys, suitable for children of all ages – from 4 to 84. There were intelligent toys, cute toys and quirky toys – something for every taste. It’s true, we are all being very generous when it comes to our own children and our own immature minds!

Tags: Selfridges

Fashion Windows: Oslo (Paul Smith) October 2010

A slightly different Fashion Windows this time since the shop I’ve snapped pictures of is inside a department store and therefore doesn’t have a ‘window’. This doesn’t stop it from doing fabulous displays though! For the past few months, Steen & Strøm has been rebuilding their entire menswear floor. Both the Burberry and Hugo Boss concessions have been expanded and one of my favourite designers, Paul Smith, has opened a brand new shop-in-shop. This is one of two recent concessions in Scandinavia, the other one being in Copenhagen’s Illum department store.

The Steen & Strøm shop has clothes from the Paul Smith Jeans, Paul Smith London and PS Paul Smith lines. The concession also has shoes and items from the accessory collections available. Steen & Strøm, Eger and a few other fashion boutiques in Oslo have been stocking Paul Smith for quite some time, but this is the first proper concession dedicated solely to the designer and his different lines. My favourite part of the new concession is the baby blue signature wall with photo frames in different sizes. The space in the concession is quite limited, but the visual merchandising team has made the most of the space they had available. I think the way they have decorated the wall is a good way to compensate for not having a real window to dress. The wall to the right of the photo wall is dedicated to suits, whilst the wall to the left has a cabinet with small leather goods and other accessories.

More pictures after the jump

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Tags: Paul Smith

Fashion Windows: Oslo (Tommy Hilfiger) September 2010

Time for another fashion window post, this time I went to the newly renovated Tommy Hilfiger shop in Oslo. Lately, the brand has undergone some major changes – they have renewed their identity and repositioned themselves. The huge flashy logos are all gone, instead their past few collections have been very sophisticated and Ralph Lauren’esque with classic American sportswear and casual pieces. The visual merchandising at the shop looks more thorough now than earlier, and the visual expression is more in line with that of their clothing. It’s obvious that the visual merchandising team has put a lot of time and effort into decorating the shop after the renovation and that they have put a lot of attention to little details. I took a few snaps inside and outside the shop. I apologize for the slightly blurry pictures, as I was using my iphone instead of my dslr-camera when I took these.

One of the boutique's windows that face the atrium at Eger.

More pictures after the jump.

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Tags: Eger, Tommy Hilfiger

Fashion windows: Oslo September 2010

Autumn moss at Steen & Strøm

Autumn is definitely in the air. While the fashion windows during summer were all about either minimalism or nautical themes, the autumn windows are all about nature. One of the best windows I have seen so far is this one at Oslo’s Steen & Strøm Magasin – one of the oldest and most fashionable department stores in the city. The entire outfit on this mannequin is made out of real moss. Fashion windows in Oslo are usually a lot more conservative compared to the ones in London, New York and even smaller fashion cities like Copenhagen as the visual merchandisers here usually play it ‘safe’. What I really liked about this windows was that for once they really, really decided to be daring, use their creativity, take it all out and do something nice and spectacular.

However, this was the only window I really liked at Steen & Strøm. The others weren’t bad, but I just didn’t like them as much as this one. I guess that after seeing this, I was expecting the others to be just as amazing – a bit of an anti-climax in other words.

Steen & Strøm - September 2010

One thing I wish Steen & Strøm would work on though is attention to detail. The little signs that describe the items you are seeing and what concession you can get them from were full of spelling mistakes and errors. I am not talking just one or two mistakes, nearly all of the signs had at least one, some even two, mistakes on them. No matter how good a window is, things like this just makes all that hard work seem sloppy.

More pictures from Steen & Strøm, Ferner Jacobsen (Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren + many others) and Acne Studios after the jump.

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Tags: Acne, Ferner Jacobsen, Steen & Strøm