Tag Archives: French Connection

Book Review: ‘Window Display – New Visual Merchandising’

Posted on 07/10/2010 | 7 Comments

Window Display - New Visual Merchandising by Tony Morgan, Laurence King Publishing; 2010. ISBN: 978-1-85669-685-2. £22.50

The new book by Tony Morgan boasts some excellent photographs of the best recent windows in London, New York, Paris and beyond. Morgan takes us on a personal journey with his writing, which shines through his passion for display. The book is well structured and looks at windows from different perspectives in seven chapters such as Colour, Lighting and Theatre. The book covers the top department stores from New Yorks  Bergdorf Goodman to London’s Selfridges (Morgan worked as Head of Visual Merchandising there for 18 years), designer shops such as Prada and Moschino, as well as high street fashion concepts by TopShop and  Zara.

With relevant images and captions he shows how a window is more than just a useful space to promote products. “Today these glazed canvases promote the store’s brand identity, keep the customer informed of fashion trends and ultimately drive sales.” He explores several ways to make the stores windows stand out from their competitors. Would a tyrannosaurus Rex eating a mannequin get your attention? He quite rightly argues that good windows are the talk of the town.

The book successfully highlights  how different elements of window design can inspire and increase sales. Morgan celebrates ”the creative retail gurus” who design the schemes. I always wonder who designed the windows, therefore  I wish he would have explored  this further. Overall I strongly recommend the book.

Tony Morgan teaches visual merchandising at Fashion Retail Academy and is a guest lecturer at London College of Fashion. His previous book is called Visual Merchandising: Window and In-store Displays for Retail.
All images by Laurence King Publishing.

About these ads

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Book Reviews

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

French Connection Ogles You With Moving Image

Posted on 10/05/2010 | 8 Comments

French Connection, Oxford Street, Kingston, London

I think using movement in windows is definitely a trend in rising. You walk past these French Connection black and white lenticular photos and they give you the illusion of movement. It is a technique especially used in collectable children’s cards. I remember having some when I was a kid. But instead of holding the images in your hand and adjusting the viewing angle, you walk past them for different angle. It is really clever way of capturing the attention of passers-by. I wish I’d be able to record this with a video camera, but instead I’m showing two images from different viewing angles.  I recommend going to your nearest French Connection store to have a look for yourself. I had a bit of a dance in front of them (for other people’s amusement!) trying to capture all the movement in the photos.

Kingston store’s women’s window.

At first the girl has her eyes open.

You walk past and the girl closes her eyes.

Walk to your right and the girl in the car looks at you. Somehow a little spooky as well. I’m sure something like this has been done before, but I found these windows very refreshing to see.

In some the movement is quite subtle and you almost have to ‘spot the difference’.

The man steps closer to the sinks.

Here he turns to look at you.

Oxford Street had placed the portraits instead of mannequin heads – same for men and women. Otherwise the images were the same as in Kingston. I do recommend going to see these!

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Spring/Summer

Tagged , , ,