harrods christmas window displays.

Another stop during the London trip: Harrods. Their Christmas window displays this year are absolutely beautiful. They're based around the theme of a 1920s train with each window displaying a different carriage. The windows were drawing groups of tourists in to take photos so obviously I didn't want to miss out. After seeing and reading The Great Gatsby over the summer it was a welcome surprise to see a similar style in the window displays. The whole thing was so decadent and festive and totally put me in the Christmas spirit. 

The first window you see on the corner is a snowy scene and you can hear the sounds of a train..

Which leads onto the next window, a life size steam train completely lit up.

The second window you pass depicts the staff with the luggage, showcasing the luxury luggage available in store. I adore the detailing in the carriages, they all have luggage racks to display more product and all the windows are animated screens showing snowy scenes and imagery of Harrods' christmas campaign.

In this window there is a mannequin dressed in a lavish ball gown, embellished in stones. I love the detailing in this window, its beautiful to see up close and sums up the decadence of the 1920's

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Detailing from the window above. The flash of the trademark Louboutin red sole is perfect against the neutral fabrics.

This window was my favourite out of the displays. It shows two mannequins having afternoon tea, complete with macarons. I love all the detailing involved, with the boxes on the cake stand and plates with macarons arranged in them. I think it also appealed to me because of all the pastel colours, which were popular earlier this year, which I love.

john lewis christmas window displays.

While we were in London there was a few things we knew we really wanted to look at so we made a list because who doesn't love a list? Obviously a must see was the Christmas windows at John Lewis on Oxford street. The displays were all animal themed, which was in keeping with their current Christmas advert; The Bear & the Hare. They've done the theme with a slight twist and created all the animals from items available in store, and it is amazing to see up close! As you walk past you'll see turkeys made of towels, a deer created from parts of various Dysons, a brown bear made from sofas and a polar bear constructed completely from Nintendo Wii parts. 

topshop oxford street visual merchandising.

On one of many trips into Topshop Oxford street I got a chance to take some photos of their window displays and VM. I was completely blown away by the whole thing. The fixtures had mannequins placed on top of them, surrounded in pink cherry blossom and it looked amazingly ornate, I was in heaven. It was also the first day their collection from a collaboration with Meadham Kirchhoff was available in store and the window display was too cute and kitsch to not photograph. 

Their main window was simple, girly and almost ethereal. The merchandisers has set up lots of petal shapes at different levels and placed a fan underneath so when it was switched on all the petals moved with the breeze. I stood and stared for at least 10 minutes until the temptation of shopping dragged me away. So beautiful.

london in november.

A group of us went on a trip to London in late November to snoop around the Christmas displays, research for our dissertation and visit various Topshop branches numerous times (obviously). Cue us all acting like crazy tourists, photographing anything of interest and pretending to be cultured.

 Compulsory underground photo.

What trip to London would be complete without a visit to Selfridges? They had their Christmas section open, complete with chair made of teddy bears and 'Elfridges' sign, far too cute.

 Selfridges window display.

Selfridges home section.

 Like a moth to a flame. 

We visited Somerset House and went to the Isabella Blow exhibition which was really enlightening and enjoyable. She was a bit of an enigma so it was really interesting to get an insight into her life. It started off with her early life and some videos of her, including one where she was offering her friend her shoes saying, "Do you like them? I hate them, they're Dior." obviously. As she was renown for finding young talent, including Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy and Hussein Chalayan the exhibition included a lot of their early work, which was great to look at. There was also a lot of little personal items and facts about Blow, such as she used to wear odd shoes, would sign letters with a lipstick kiss and almost always wrote in pink ink which just makes her seem even more fabulous than before. The exhibition finished with a video of the fashion show that McQueen and Treacy staged after her death which was so beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone who can go as it really was worth the entry fee.