Butterflies at Fortnum and Mason

Here are some photos I took of Fortnum and Masons spring windows in London which are always some of my favourite windows around as they are so captivating and filled with interest. They went with the theme of butterflies and then interpreted the same size butterfly differently in each of their main windows - for example one was lit up with neon lights, one was made to look very mechanical as it was made of metal wheels and cogs and one was made of stained glass. They've got so many windows so I've only got a selection of some of them but they are definitely something to feast your eyes on!

These are the side windows:

The base of this display rotated which made this a popular window to gaze at:

These are some of the main windows:

I Do Windows Interview

Recently I was interviewed by Arcadia who runs a Visual Merchandising course in San Francisco and she featured my interview on her brilliant blog.

This is her introduction to my interview - check it out!

"Vicky Wren kicks-off this new segment I'm adding to the blog called "Learn From the Pros". What better way to learn visual merchandising than by those who are actually out there doing the work. Textbooks are fine in theory but we all know you learn best by actually applying what you learn. Enjoy!"

Merchandising Berlin Stylie!

I went to Berlin for a long weekend last month and took these photos of window displays.

This isn't the best view of this Mac window as the light was so bright! But hopefully you can see how cool it is! The Wonder Woman vinyls are really striking and I love how the scene spreads across all the windows and how the eye is lead to the door by the flying lipsticks and compact cases which appear to be Wonder Woman's weapon of choice!

The next window along has a window length Wonder Woman comic strip which draws customers to the window so they can read the story of Wonder Woman's struggle.

Hopefully these fun graphics should inspire customers to go inside the store to try the Wonder Woman themed range of cosmetics - I definitely would have but unfortunately it was a Sunday and the store was closed!

I took these photos of what I think is a posture clinic. I'm not a big fan of these windows - my eyes were drawn to the random bunches of hanging flowers instead of the products. Really eye catching displays could be done with the trainers (a good example I spotted was the Foot Locker display in my last update) and fun things could be done with the exercise balls and weights - maybe you could have lots of colourful foamex circles along with the balls and weights going up in an arch across the window.

These are windows of the Galeria Kaufhof department store in the centre of Berlin. I loved them as they just oozed Springtime! The massive blown up flowers that are layered front to back and bottom to top through each window feel fresh and enticing and they compliment the products chosen for each window. I especially love the dandelion window with the dandelion seeds floating around and framing the mannequins.

I didn't manage to take pictures inside but they carried the theme throughout the store by having mannequin sized flowers stood next to the mannequins themselves which looked really effective as the eye went straight to these huge bright flowers and then fell on the mannequin next to them.

Laces and Frames

I like the way frames have been used here to help group and also focus the eye on small products - in these cases cosmetics.

I also like how mannequin hands have been used to hold up the bottles of Viktor and Rolf perfume as if offering it to the customer.

This Foot Locker display caught my eye just for how simple it is. I think using an enlarged element of the product you are displaying is really effective and the different heights of the trainers add interest. The only thing that I think could improve it would be for the whole display to be raised above the Foot Locker graphic as it's right in the way of the products!

Extremely late Christmas pics!

Sorry about how late these photos are - I've had limited internet access of late! But thought these were worth showing - Habitat's Christmas theme was "Footprints Through the Forest" and as you can see the forest theme carried successfully from the windows through to the Christmas shop and lead in tables in store.

Magnify Glasses, Pots of Paint and Embroidery Rings!

I loved this idea from Oasis of using magnify glasses to highlight details on the garments - it really draws attention to the clothes - genius!

This is from the window of Northern Rock - a bank! They're promoting mortgages and the pots of paint with "moving made easy" represent how if you get a mortgage with them you can be in your house painting and making your mark on it in no time! I've put this photo up to show that even unlikely businesses like banks can come up with eye catching visual ideas to promote their business.

This was taken at Liberty's - I love the idea they had to display their material by stretching it over embroidery rings of different sizes and hanging them above a display table to twist and turn and catch the eye.

This is a little something I did for a room set a while ago - I had fun arranging the frames!

Spring Arrives at Habitat and John lewis

I worked on these windows for Habitat and I love how they look fresh with the combination of white, greens and yellows. The theme is Outside Looking In and there are displays on either side of the windows so either way you're on the outside looking in!

Side one...

Side two...!

This is some dressing I did on the side unit:

This is the other window - a different colour scheme but still hinting at the arrival of spring with plants and flowers.

The other side, incorporating the bright pink dotted within the main part of the window.

John Lewis is a whole different kettle of fish. Simple, plain and ordered. This is a very neutral coloured window and there isn't much to shout about but I like how it nods to nature with the slices of tree trunks spotted along the back.