This is a kind of holiday-inspired story I wrote, even though window dressers work all year round. It was fascinating to learn was just how artistically driven these crafty workers can be and also how utterly detailed oriented the whole process is. Here’s a gasp-worthy display from Bergdorf’s from the limited-edition book by Tashen, followed by my article.
From new limited-edition book “Windows at Bergdorf Goodman” released by Assouline. A Compendium of Curiosities III: Illogical Lexicons and Convivial Characters, Holiday 2009. With Jay Soonthornsawad. Fabricated entirely in paper. Sculpture by Biak Kerdkan, Matt Northridge, and James Vance. Inspired by “Alice” books by Lewis Carroll.
* This article originally appeared in the Montreal Gazette and online versions in the Calgary Herald, the Star Pheonix, the Windsor Star and on Canada.com.
“Window Wonderland”
Take the imagination of Dali and swirl it into the colour sensibility of Klimt. Then pour the mixture into a curvy mould clad in lingerie, and pop on 24 heads. Only then will you be halfway able to grasp the macabre and magnificence required to dress the windows at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Ave. in New York.
“Minimalism is great. Maximalism, too. What we avoid is mediumism,” writes David Hoey, senior director of visual presentation at Bergdorf’s, in the preface of Windows at Bergdorf Goodman, recently released by Assouline. This mother of all
coffee table books (it costs $560) catalogues the awe-inspiring storefront windows created by Hoey and Linda Fargo, senior vice-president of fashion office and store presentation. Displays include two giant polar bears in a wrestling ring, a wedge wearing tightrope walker and a series of enchanted forests, razzle dazzle assemblages inspired by Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” books.
Bergdorf’s elaborately themed window spaces, which span the block between 57th and 58th Sts., are changed almost weekly, revealing a shocking rebirth of imagination. Each space is about four metres high and a mere 1.2 metres deep.
Whether to attract the attention of fast-paced denizens in Manhattan or to please the savvy shoppers of Montreal, window displays are a spectator’s delight. Especially in late November and December, when store owners treat shoppers to the nostalgia of Christmas lights mixed with innovative whimsy.
Since 1947, Ogilvy’s has engaged Montrealers with its adorable Christmas-themed mechanical spectacle. It pops-up like clockwork in the department store’s corner wraparound window every year, alternating between two themes – The Enchanted Village and Mill in the Forest. Each takes a full week to install. Shoppers often tap on the glass in anticipation, says Steeve Lapierre, vice-president of marketing at the company.
However, Ogilvy’s has more storefront windows than just the corner space. The Ste. Catherine St. windows are filled with a circus theme, complete with bold stripes and a pink, life-size elephant. On Mountain St., there are scenes depicting a still white winter fairyland.
These displays are new each year, and are carefully planned for months in advance by Lapierre. While some shopkeepers would find it daunting to create such elaborate displays, Lapierre thrives on the experience.
“On the weekend, in my country house, I put on really loud music,” Lapierre says of the creative process behind his window scenes. “And I have tons of paper and col-our pencils, and I just start making drawings.”
He says music, movies or recent travel experiences cross his mind, but sometimes he just fixates on one idea. For this year’s Christmas windows, he says, he became obsessed with the giraffe. This inspired Lapierre to create two themes for the holiday windows, both featuring animals.
While stark minimalist windows, like those at Moug jewellery store in Little Italy or the centred displays of topiary perfection at Flore in Westmount, are refined and visually arresting, department stores around Christmas are all about impressing customers with big lights and action.
At the long stretch of windows at Holt Renfrew on Bloor St. in Toronto, creative director John Gerhardt filled one window with a trunk of the car sliced in half. A gigantic tree comes off the car’s roof and leads to a door at the other end of the window panels. Along the way are smartly dressed mannequins holding gifts and food, and they appear to be frolicking in a wintry scene. Gerhardt says the theme is based on a feeling that seeks to capture what’s best about the holidays: spending time with friends and family.
Gerhardt ensures that windows at all Holt’s stores across Canada – all displaying the same theme -are changed about every six weeks. He and his team supply each store with materials and instructions.
For Christmas, he says, capturing traditionalism and fantasy is key. Aside from the magical Christmas snow-globe scenes, however, Holt’s tries to shake things up. “We want to have whimsy, we want to be clever, we want to be unique and stand apart,” Gerhardt says. “Windows are the theatre of our company.”
One of Gerhardt’s most talked about displays was called Exposed. It was all about the phenomenon of bloggers and also played up the public dramas of Tiger Woods and David Letterman. “We look at art, media, pop culture and kinds of places to see where people’s heads are,” Gerhardt says. While he looks to the runways to see how the season is playing out, actually choosing the clothes for the mannequins is done only about three weeks prior to putting up the display, which typically takes six months to choreograph.
Essentially, the motto of the most talented window dressers appears to be “shock and they shall come” – or at least, knock their socks off so they’ll stop dead in their tracks.
“My job is to bring the client inside the store,” says Constant Bibeau, one of the founders of Etalage B. Display, a company that designs windows for Birks and Chanel stores across Canada, as well as for small stand-alone boutiques like Rossetti’s dance store on St. Denis St. “I don’t sell jeans and sweaters.”
Bibeau says shopping needs to be an experience. That way, consumers feel like they’ve bought a souvenir and are taking part of it home. So rather than just displaying the store’s merchandise, Bibeau looks to create visually arresting scenes.
“I could find a small teacup, but if you put in a hundred, it’s funny,” he said. “It becomes a wallpaper of small stuff. It’s all concept.” To ensure that the scenes, elaborate or minimal, take centre stage, Bibeau painstakingly cleans the window areas and surrounds them with dark paint or fabric. Then he strategically sets up lights.
He constantly scours his suppliers for new items, and typically buys 80 per cent of the pieces displayed in window. The other 20 per cent are built in his studio or repurposed from the two million items in his warehouse at Masson St. and de Lorimier Ave. He has more than 200 mannequins in stock. At this year’s Christmas display at Alexis Nihon, he reused a Dianne Brill mannequin from the ’90s with 42D breasts and a 24-inch waist.
Bibeau works with 18 full-time artists and three full-time carpenters and electricians. Much of the time his team has to execute their ideas overnight, after working hours. And, like Gerhardt, he and his team have to dispatch several boxes of props along with extremely detailed instructions to other parts of Canada.
“People think we’re just artists,” he laughs. “But, really, we have to order 500 metres of fabric, dye them in the right colours, and have all the right suppliers.”
Bibeau works with large and small budgets, ranging from about $500 to $2,000 for a small storefront window, but, he adds, “I treat every client like Chanel.” Inspiration is inspiration, after all.
He says owners of smaller boutiques are usually apprehensive about spending money on their window displays, but once they see the results, they’re hooked. Rossetti’s for example, has been his client for about 15 years, changing its windows about every six weeks.
While Christmas windows tend to be pricier because of the lights, many shopkeepers are intimidated by the window display because of both time and budget constraints.
However, Georges Laoun Opticien found a creative and budget-friendly way to dress its windows in its stores on St. Denis St. and on Sherbrooke St.: it uses the space as an art gallery for burgeoning artists. Some are in their 50s or 60s, while others are young sculptors just out of UQAM. The store has even featured live window performances. A unifying thread is that the works don’t have to be pretty, but they need to make a statement.
“We want it to show truth rather than be commercial,” says Sherif Laoun, who works at the family company. The current exhibition at the St. Denis store, for example, features the mixed media work of Lise Fradet. Fradet shredded photos of her life and put them in collages with paint on canvas discs. So far, five of her pieces from Georges Laoun exhibition have been sold. “Now the artists come to us,” says Laoun, who has been working as a liaison with artists for more than 23 years, when the store was first on Jean Talon St.
To encourage small shops on St. Laurent Blvd. to have larger-than-life window displays -or shockingly minimal -as the case may be, the Societe de developpement du boulevard Saint-Laurent, with the help of a sponsorship from the Caisse Desjardins Portugaise, has held an annual Christmas-window competition called Dia Das Montras (or Windows on the Main) for the last 10 years. Winners get $1,500, second place $1,000, and third place $750. Winners are announced on Dec. 15 at Blizzarts.
Past winners include Friperie St. Laurent, Boutique Scandale, Boutique Barbeau and Coco Rico.
Large department stores or flower shops might have the budget, know-how, or goods to make traffic-stopping window displays, but second-hand clothing stores, baby shops, furniture shops and even chicken restaurants can have rather impressive windows in Montreal, too.
Whatever the concept, window dressing is a dynamic way for shopkeepers to reach out to their community and become part of the local dialogue. Thing is, all these window displays take time, effort and much inspiration. So if you see a window display you admire, remember to tell the shopkeeper. It may have appeared overnight, but it took months of magical thinking to come to life.