I haven’t gone to see the windows in a long time, so the other day I walked past all the stores I normally look forward to at this time of year. It did not start well. Lord and Taylor, lame. Macy’s, lame. Saks didn’t even try, which was shocking. I was hoping they would bring back the happy happy snowflakes, but they just had creepy animatronic dolls and one of those mapped light shows on the exterior of the building which screws up foot traffic royally. Meh. Thankfully, I did not allow this to get me down and I kept walking up Fifth Avenue towards Central Park. Then there were really cool holiday decor all over! And everything was better. Thank you, Predominantly Luxury Jewelry Shops, for making my holiday merry and bright.
First I passed Henri Bendel’s, where there was an insane giant dangly-tinsel tree sculpture. They have really high ceilings and they used it to their advantage. It was impressive.
Shortly after that was Fendi. Now, Cartier is famous for wrapping their building with Christmas lights like one of their red boxes. They do that every year. It’s a staple.
A lot of the other stores have followed suit. Fendi wrapped their building in belt buckles and drippy icicles, which is a weakness of mine.
Harry Winston had enormous plastic jewels made and lit them from the inside so it looked like diamond clusters over the windows.
But Bulgari was my favorite. They took one of their designs, the Art Deco snake necklace, made it really big and draped it over the building. It twinkled periodically and I damn near walked into traffic to truly appreciate it.
The one store with killer windows this year was Bergdorf Goodman. They had a 1920s theme which made me way happy because OMG SPARKLY. There was rhinestones and sequins on all the surfaces. I think maybe in a past life I was a parakeet, because gosh darnit if light reflects offa something, I gotta stare at it. But before we get to the sparkle-windows, I want to cover the two smaller windows to the side. I had a nice moment when I saw one of the dresses featured in the side windows. I realized, and this almost never happens, that I could make this dress. The whole thing was within my skill set. Now, I would not make this dress because it is kind of fugly, but still, it’s a good feeling to know you could if you had to. Like you were taken to a Hollywood awards show at gunpoint. The dress was made of felt (why? so itchy) and it had beaded beads all over the front. Right in my wheelhouse.
In the other side window was a woman in full evening dress, sitting with a man in full evening dress, except his head wasn’t a man-head, it was a walrus-head. It was a really well-done walrus-head too. Whoever crafted that did a great job. If I ever need to make a walrus-head for a costume or something (and you totally know it could happen) I will refer to these pictures for reference.
The first of the main windows was jazz-themed. Rather cleverly, they skewed the perspective by mounting the mannequins and their instruments on the wall to make it appear as the floor. Really nice.
The next window had a white theme. They used taxidermied white peacocks and loads of ostrich feathers. It was quite lush.
Then there was the window with mirrors. The ones in the middle rotated slowly in opposite directions. Shocker! I stood in front of this one, mouth agape, for a about three minutes. “Spinny… mirrors… must look… away…”
Around the corner in the small windows was a magic show setup which was all fine and dandy, but what I loved was the female mannequin was wearing a cape adorned with sequins and beads depicting what I guess is Apollo crossing the sky. Can we bring back capes please? I feel the need to flounce through Midtown and you need to rock a cape for maximum flouncing. Mercedes Fashion Week, get on that.
In the final window they had a ballroom dancing theme. The mirrorball was really creative. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that you can cover any shape with mirrors and it will become a mirrorball. I don’t know when, but I will use this design style someday in the future. As God is my witness, I will make an oddly shaped thing reflective, I swear it! *raises fist to the sky*
Now, to complete my idea of an exciting holiday break, I will lay in bed, avoid cleaning my apartment and watch the “Modern Marvels” episode on beans I have on my DVR. Happy holidays to you and yours.