“Ultimately, the window is a billboard,” Jonathan Anderson said, explaining why he plunked a giant, very British-looking teapot in the window of his new JW Anderson boutique in Milan instead of a dress. “It’s about storytelling: How do you draw people into a store?”
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“A window display is a first insight into the brand image, but it still has to attract people and catch their attention,” agreed Simon Porte Jacquemus, who recently installed a cherry-topped cup of whipped cream the size of a Fiat 500 in the window of his Avenue Montaigne store in Paris. It winks to his Marie Antoinette-tinged fall collection that was paraded at the Chateau de Versailles last June.
The two designers are among the ringleaders of a new style of window dressing where clothing is strictly optional, but creativity, bombast and surprise are a must.
“The product is not enough — to retain your customers, you need to entertain them,” said Julien Steenman, who teaches visual merchandising at the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris. “You bring your customer into your universe in a very big and bold way. You need to be quick and efficient today.
“The window becomes the manifesto of the brand.”
Reliant for more than a decade on e-commerce and wholesale channels, Jacquemus first dipped a toe into physical retail last year and was keen to “test disruptive ideas instead of conventional manners of selling.”
“We have always been playing with everyday objects and memories in each of our shows, campaigns and collections so it made sense to us to revisit them in a very absurd and gigantic way,” the designer said, referring to the giant popcorn machine and toaster that have dominated the window “to attract