Sunday, 18 December 2011

Christmas through the looking glass

During this grand finale of the annual consumer cycle, the Christmas shop windows are like a stage set laid out for the shopping public to perform on. By turns opulent, witty and innovative, they set the scene for the big winter spend; the more perfectly transporting the displays, the more likely it is that we will fulfil our role alongside them, buying into the glamour of luxury.
The design of the most spectacular windows famously starts a year in advance, with the teams accumulating folders of reference images and scouring eBay and flea markets for suitable props. The visual merchandising departments tend to see their Christmas windows as a kind of gift to the shopping public. Over the past half-century or so, they've become part of the Christmas tradition: not so much a chance to cram the windows with alluring merchandise as an opportunity to create a fantasy world so beguiling that shoppers will be charmed in through the doors.

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