STYLE: Window Displays

STYLE

Window Displays

View the Photo Journal of Downtown Albuquerque window displays September 2012.
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The Bon Marche department store in Paris, 1877, is one of the earliest examples of large scale window decorating. The store was transformed through structural architectural changes that allowed for wide open spaces, lots of light, and huge windows. Previously, glass had been limited to smaller openings and much smaller panes. The invention of big picture windows lead directly to the new art of window display.

In her book Retailing: Critical Concepts author Anne Findlay remarks that the large retail display windows "communicate festivity, vitality, beauty, and fantasy, revealing the signature of individual stores and the inner possibilities of store life."

Sadly, outside of the largest cities, window dressing has become mostly a lost art. In our modern era of chain stores, most companies rely on display photos hung like posters in a window, along with a few mannequins. Or some similar simple design that was fashioned at corporate headquarters to be uniform among dozens, if not hundreds, of locations across the country. They are assembled by low wage retail workers hired to staff the sales floor, not by designers or merchandisers trained in the visual arts.

Instead of reflecting local color, most department store window displays are stiff and corporate--at best.

Some exceptions still exist. Macy's, at their flagship Herald Square store in mid-Manhattan, is most famous for their holiday display window which are unveiled in time for Thanksgiving and their parade in NYC. One set of windows usually features themes related to the movie Miracle on 34th Street, about Macy's and their now defunct rival Gimbels. A new theme is introduced each year in a second set of display windows. Department stores in the largest cities are still more likely to employ a window designer than the smaller locations around the country.

Another notable exception is Anthropologie. When I travel, I always enjoy seeing the variety at each store. Not two locations ever seem to look the same. According to Design Sponge, each anthro store has its own small team of artists who do all of the displays at their own location. Teams may include graphic designers, painters and sculptors. Rare is a chain store that gives so much attention, and resources, to each location.

There are still devotees of window decorating. The Window Display Blog is run by Kaisa, a visual merchandiser who is, in her own words, obsessed with store windows. She photographs and writes about displays in London.

However, walk around a smaller city like Albuquerque's Downtown and it's unfortunately difficult to find many decent displays of any type, regardless of chain or otherwise. The lack of properly decorated display windows gives the area an unfriendly vibe. Those few stores who are making an effort should be commended.

Many cities have addressed this issue with Phantom Galleries--displays of local artists in pop-up galleries to deal with vacant and undecorated windows, particularly in downtowns, to replace the loss of mainstreet retailers. This not only gives artists a venue to display their work, it also enhances the public space and provides interest.