The Carnival of Animals Bergdorf's

Bergdorf's never disappoints with their windows, especially at holiday. This animal kingdom is complete with an array of carefully selected animal props across several regions. Each windows is unique in theme (from tropic to arctic), color scheme (from blue to gold) and materials (from paper to wood). Try and swing by before they change!

Paper Flowers @ Seporha

We've been seeing white & gold a lot lately. Its a nice understated look for holiday and definitely a break from red and green. Sephora's windows look elegant in this color scheme.

Their banners are enhanced with over sized whimsical paper flowers to highlight their marketing and we think it adds a festive dimension. These flowers look ornate and detailed and add the right touch to their windows!

Colorful Holiday at Kate Spade

Kate Spade's year of color is slowly coming to a close. We have loved what they've done not only with color but with props this past year.

For November the windows took on a definite holiday twist with props and backdrops draped and wrapped in crepe paper streamers. These windows are fun, festive and get us in the holiday spirit!

Bvlgari New York Accordingly

Bvlgari's new Fall windows have caught our eye. Rachel Weisz, their new face for Fall is featured in large scale prints encased in gold frames set upon ornate backdrops.

The according paper risers added a nice touch with their decorative honey comb style in earthy tones. The jewel tone color scheme works well here as an accent to the gorgeous pieces featured inside. It made us stop for a second look. Swing by and check it out yourself, if the jewelry doesn't draw you in the windows will!

More Color Blocking with Club Monaco

Similar to Ann Taylor earlier this week, we spotted color blocking at Club Monaco.

The theme is understated but has a subtle impact, especially in person. For the back walls of their store windows they layered sheets of art paper in a range of neutrals with a pop of brown. It was a pleasing backdrop for their early fall looks shown on their stylish mannequins.

Let's see where this trend will show up next.

Its all about the paper!

The current trend in windows is paper - as lanterns, garlands and flower fans they have been seen around town in a number of store windows.


Free People hung paper vine garlands for a jungle like effect which adding a nice pop of color to their 5th Ave location.


Kate Spade, which we covered last week was filled with colorful paper lanterns in pinks, oranges and yellows along side the Indonesian inspired umbrellas.


Gap Kids filled their windows with paper fans and flowers in different shades of blue which was simple yet impactful.


And at Lucky Brand the trend continued with white lanterns against their 'Summer of Love' denim theme.


All of these windows with their paper props signal summer. Keep an eye out for where it will show up next.

Trendspotting at Euro Shop 2011

A few of us headed over to Dusseldorf, Germany at the end of February to check out Euroshop.

Once every 3 years, this HUGE event in the world of retail highlights all aspects of the store environment - from lightening to technology, to branding and design - this is a monster size show in both scale and scope.
Though there was MUCH to cover, and at times hard to take it all in, we did manage to see some emerging trends and will share some of those here. This is in no way a comprehensive list but rather a highlight/ snapshot/ overview.

Lighting continues to evolve and will play an important role in the evolution of retail. There were a lot of exhibitors sharing some of their ideas on this and "ambient lighting" was the clear winner.

Hand made and crafty elements continue to inspire people, perhaps in reaction to the tech revolution as well as mass production- and we saw people cooking, knitting, crocheting, cobbling shoes among other things - all mean to highlight the importance of craft and well made goods.



Repetition was another theme - were one item or object was repeated in multiples for maximum impact.

Many booths and exhibitors had large wall size chalkboards - often with the chalk smudged (a result of people walking by)- like living art.

The scale and largess of some of the booths was inspiring - many had restaurants at their core and the activity and buzz was amazing. One of those - if you build it, they will come type moments.



and finally, saw a lot of natural woods, neutral tones, folded paper, wool and felt materials, all with a very edgy, urban country theme.

Overall, it was great to see and we felt energized with loads of new ideas afterwards. Would love to speak with you more about it.

Simple but effective solutions at Club Monaco

Here's one of those "ah ha!" moments in window design. This month, Club Monaco landed on a striking yet appropriate back drop to this season pale pallet.

The Kraft paper 'curls' work to add texture and warmth to the cool, neutral styles of their fall collection and causes one to stop and take notice. Which is, as we say, exactly the point!

And this effective solution is all the more appealing when you think of the cost. Balancing budget and design is tricky but can be done with much success!

Stark raving mad for paper!

Here's one we sadly missed - it seems David Stark teamed up with West Elm to create an installation, The Purely Paper Flower Shoppe, in one of their New York stores for only a few days last week. And I had to read about it on Shelterpop.com! (thanks to Laura Fenton and Patrick McMullan for the photos)

Love this whimsical wonderland all in paper - from newspapers to old book pages and beyond. Objects like plants, flowers, birdhouses and ferns are folded, collaged, layered and shredded - and those topiaryies are amazing! Wish I had seen it in person but let's enjoy the photos anyway.