RTMENT STORE WINDOW
amazement, and entertainment. As chronicled in the documentary, “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf ’s,” the planning, execution, and unveiling of Bergdorf ’s five holiday window displays take months of planning and are actually described as “installation art pieces.” With its reputation as an exclusive, luxury department store in mind, Bergdorf Goodman’s window display team works hard to ensure that the windows catch the attention of everyone on the street, not just its luxury clientele. Each window has a different design and includes mountains of detail and props filling every surface. Some observers would notice the dress on the mannequin, some the theme and the escapist quality or pure entertainment of the scene, and still others, the minute details displaying the craft and labor of these designers and artists. Designs of these windows are reaching new depths of engagement and interactive qualities. Just this year, Barneys New York’s holiday windows turned into a whole event called “Baz Dazzled.” Director Baz
Art
Luhrmann created the windows and incorporated not only design, but also live performance. Bloomingdale’s explored interactive technology for their windows, allowing pedestrians to become part of the design by having their photo shown within the display of the window for everyone else to see. Display windows are meant to create an experience; observers enliven the space by reacting to what they see and hear. Installation art has the same objectives. It is creating a space that becomes an event between the scene and the observer. What makes their designs so intriguing and successful is the engagement they have with those people walking by. They are meant to hold you within a space and to create an interaction solely in the here and now.
Photos: www.facebook.com/Tiffany www.facebook.com/BarneysNY
March 2015 | 17