Your London Christmas covered…

 

Country & Town House Magazine: The 6 Best Christmas Window Displays in London

 

Christmas is coming – and the festive season’s looking Italian at Harrods and glittery at Harvey Nics...As Harrods unveiled its Christmas tree and festive window displays, we look at the six best Christmas window displays in London this year.

 

Tiffany & Co

 

 

Legendary Venetian fabric and furniture designers Rubelli have created an exclusive fabric for the Tiffany & Co Christmas windows on New Bond Street, and around the world. Snowflakes joined together by dotted lines make a constellation pattern, evoking a magical starry night.

 

 

Rubelli’s master craftsmanship is clear to see in the depth of graphic detail, and the Costellazioni fabric has been produced in midnight blue, Tiffany Blue and turquoise.

 

Harrods

 

 

After the success of last year’s ‘A Very British Fairytale’ partnership with Burberry, Harrods has gone Italian this Christmas by partnering with the fabulous Dolce & Gabbana.

 

The Dolce & Gabbana X Harrods festive takeover includes a Dolce & Gabbana Italian Market on the 4th floor of the department store, as well as a fine watches and jewellery pop-up.

 

 

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana themselves came to unveil the Christmas windows, trees and decorations. Known for their flamboyant style, much inspired by Sicily, each window tells a fashionable story and shows behind the scenes of the ‘Dolce & Gabbana workshop’, complete with Sicilian-style puppets and the two designers popping up throughout.

 

 

Head to Knightsbridge to see for yourselves, it’s well worth a visit.

 

Liberty London

 

 

‘The Night Before Christmas’ is the theme of Liberty’s window displays this year, evoking the excitement and suspense felt by all just before Christmas day itself. The store have created magical windows of twinkling lights, wintery rooftops, rich green foliage and intricate details to reflect the iconic London scene with bi-weekly changing products that move through the display.

 

 

Head to the iconic store every Sunday from the 19th November until 10th December to see Father Christmas – families will receive a photo and gift to remember their experience.

 

Fortnum & Mason

 

 

The message from Fortnum & Mason this Christmas is ‘Together We’re Merrier’. The home of the ultimate Christmas present, the F&M hamper, is always a popular destination when the festive period kicks off.

 

 

Showcasing the belief that great things can happen when we all pull in the same direction, Fortnum’s reminds visitors that Christmas is the season to come together. Illustrating this message are the windows which show characters in different important moments of the holiday, creating a continuous narrative and beautiful tale across eight windows. Animals and objects come to life, working together to make Christmas happen – from delivering the famous hampers to creating a festive feast. The hours of craftsmanship involved are evident in the detail of the characters, who have all beeen meticulously sculpted and painted by hand.

 

Harvey Nichols

 

 

2017 has been a tough year, so Harvey Nichols decided to focus its Christmas window campaign on spreading some much-needed positivity, with high energy and celebratory visual displays.

 

You’ll find rainbow colours, bold textures and graphic patterns in the windows of the iconic shops, full of glitter, stars and colourful lights. So modern it’s almost space-like, innovative lighting techniques have been used for the first time, and the 382 disco balls, LED lights, metallics and holographic patterns will get you in the mood to party.

 

Janet Wardley, Head of Visual Display, said: “Themes of joy and positivity ran through the AW17 and SS18 shows, evoking a determination not to dwell on the uncertain times of the current climate. This inspired us to create a high energy scheme that uses dazzling colours, lights and shapes to entertain our customers – some of the vinyls are so bright that the team had to wear sunglasses during the install!”

 

 

Interested in the numbers? The Harvey Nichols 2017 Christmas windows feature: 5,101 hanging baubles, neon balls and stars, 5,370m of LED strip lights (the equivalent in length to 478 buses), 382 mirror balls, 62 bespoke wigs and 620 mannequins with manicures. Now that’s dedication!

 

Selfridges

 

 

Selfridges was the first department store in the world to unveil its Christmas windows way back in October, celebrating the cities it calls home as well as the most profound reason for gifting – love. The “With Love From” windows at Selfridges Oxford Street tell the story of a Christmas parade, with festive floats complete with characters dancing and singing to the crowds of shoppers.

 

Spreading the message of love at Christmas are mannequins holding embroidered flags which can be seen throughout the display.

 

 

This year the windows are more festive than ever – the biggest triple-sided window at the corner of Oxford Street has 10 Santas!

 

Remember to head back to the London store at the end of November, when the second set of windows are launched. Selfridges certainly don’t do things by halves…