Research & Development Portfolio
Rosie CowanAdvanced Visual Merchandising
Student Name: Rosie CowanStudent Number: Q79824595
Course title: Writing Fashion and CultureUnit title: Advanced Visual Merchandising
Unit Code: CJO633Assignment title: Research and Development Portfolio
Assignment tutor: Debbie Moores
Contents Page
Page 3 - Introduction
Page 4 - Brand Image
Page 5 - Flagship Research - Oxford street
Page 7 - Competition Research - Oxford Street
Page 8 - Flagship Research - Newcastle
Page 11 - Competition Research - Newcastle
Page 12 - River Island vs. Topshop
Page 14 - River Island Goes Stateside - Article
Page 15 - River Island Goes Stateside - Research
Page 18 - Research Summary
Page 19 - Research - A/W’13 Press Day
Page 20 - The Idea
Page 21 - Mood Board
Page 22- Generation of final ideas
Page 27 - Bibliography
Introduction - Visual Merchandising???
The objective of this project is to compile research and develop a concept for a window display for the flagship store of a major brand.
I have worked at River Island for nearly four years and have been a member of the instore visual team for nearly a year. I have always had a real respect and admiration of the visual direction of River Island but often feel that their window displays are lacking compared to their internals. I have therefore decided to base this project on River Island and create
something that I feel better conveys their particular brand image.
Store design is important to show products to their best advantage and help support and convey a brand image. No matter how good the products are in a store it’s up to the way they are presented and the environment they are
placed in to entice the customers to pay attention to them in the first place.
Every retail group deals with the particular visual merchandising needs of their stores in a different manner according to their brand identity, budget and their retail strategy.
River island stores split up staff into three different categories of sales advisors: Sales and Service, Operations and Product.
Product member of staff are involved with maximising sales through effective analysis of commercial information and ensuring that the best sellers are always in the right place and that the store is visually merchandised to the highest standard. Daily jobs can be anything from placing best-sellers and newlines to ticketing promotions or from creating in-
ternal displays to conducting maintenance on fixtures on the shop-floor.
The role known as ‘Visual Merchandiser’ within the company involves individuals, briefed by the head office creative team, traveling between shops in their particular region and ensuring the product staff have implemented layouts and visuals
correctly. They also do any big changes in the store and windows like spray painting fixtures to applying new baseboards and backdrops.
The company’s creative team issues a layout guide to all stores though there is a different one for flagship and ‘glam-our’ stores.
This visual guide gives details on the looks and trends in-store and sets out everything from clothing densities to manne-quin positions.
I want to first start by getting an idea of the brand identity River Island wants to convey by looking at how the company describes itself. This will correspond to how they utilise visual merchandising methods as the retail environment should uphold the same values of the brand itself to reinforce the brand image and com-municate it to customers.
What is the brand???
Information sourced from www.riverisland.com
“Love fashion. Love River Island.”
Constantly growing with stores now throughout the UK, Ireland, Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Customers know them for ‘great going-out looks, amazing denim and fabulous shoes and bags’
60 years of fashion retailing experience
Perfect place to pick up a ‘complete head-to-toe look’
‘Unique touches’ make their collections stand out on the high street
New and original fashionStylish and affordable
Design is at the heart of absolutely everything they do
Research - Brand image...
In order to see how this is communicated through visual merchandising in window displays I visited a couple of the larger River Island stores and Flagship store. Photos of London stores are limited as I found taking photos was not particularly welcomed.
The flag ship store on Oxford Street had a surprisingly simple window . This may be due to the Rihanna clothing launch coming up and so all windows would soon be changed anyway.
Their mannequins wear a size 8 on top and a size 10 on the bottom which are the sizes most commonly sold and therefore true to the majority of their target consumer base. River Island have always used full-form mannequins that are true to human form but without features or hair, which ensures the clothing is not distracted from. More recently they have added glossy black mannequins to their store, mainly in windows, instead of the white/cream forms that were easily marked. Mannequins are the focal point of all windows throughout the company. The arrangement of the mannequins in an arrow formation and stood on different levels through the use of the plinths works well to ensure all mannequins, and therefore outfits, are clearly visible and also made it a more interesting composition that helped draw the eyes of passer-bys. Visual merchandisers cluster several mannequins together in order to generate excitement, it eliminates the need for other props while still cre-ating an exciting appearance.
The main source of lighting in River Island windows is from halogen spot-lights in either the floor, ceiling or both. In the Oxford Street Flagship the lighting was based above the window but complimented by additional lighting
at the sides which also served as a decorative element. The side lighting was reminiscent of lightings in a Hollywood dressing room or something similar. It
enhanced the overall look of the display. The base boards and plinths were spray painted a crisp clean white that helped reflect the lights and made the black mannequins and coloured garments stand out further. Propping is generally quite minimal in the company’s windows especially in this particular instance. The mannequins are fully merchandised with
accessories such as bags and sunglasses to promote outfit building and encourage customers to buy a full look. The garments in the window depend on the type of store and who their specific customer is. This store seems to be tai-
lored more towards students through their use of a ‘preppy’ look in the window. It is fully promoting the S/S’13 sea-
Research - Oxford Street Flagship Store...
son stock with the footwear propping complimenting this. Price boards are also included to the side of every mannequin’s base and displayed
with the footwear so customers can start shopping from outside the store. The window is open backed which is not a universal trait, most
River Island stores have closed off windows which not only allows for easier application of back drops but also increases the security of
the stock on display in the window, allowing footwear to be displayed in pairs. Open windows however provides forextra visability and may further intice customers into the shop if they see something that
interests them. The reason behind the open window is more than likely due to restrictions on space.
Oxford Street, though being a desirable location, offers large retail space but the length across the front of these is limited with the
properties stretching back rather than having a wide fascia. This smaller window space does however make way for a bigger en-
trance with a mens window to the other side of this doorway. It is open, inviting and allows a flow of customers to travel in one way and back out the other. The open space allows paserbys to see into the
store acting almost as a secondary window space and showcasing the visuals and products inside.
I personally wasn’t hugely impressed by the window displays, I no-ticed them because I was there specifically to do so, if that hadn’t
been the case I would have probably walked straight past. The entrance, internal graphics and displays were a lot more dynamic.
Combined with the music pumping out of there it was definatley an environment that was designed to grab customers attention and lead them into the store.
The entrace of the store is light and spacious allowing customers to easily orientate themselves upon entering. Paths are free flowing in the store suggesting a geneal path but allowing customers to travel their own route through the store. All free space is utilised and merchandised to a high standard. tops of fixtures house product displays and signage while walls contain dressed busts and seasonal graphics.
Research - Oxford Street Flagship Store...
Topshop
As I have said Schuh is not direct competition in a sale sense to River Island but I felt in grabby attention on a street level it was really effective. It is directly across the road from the concept River Island Oxford Street store and had I not gone to show before River Island I would have definatley wanted to cross the street to have a closer look. A city scape was created from cardboard box-es and the lighting from above could be likened to the sun illuminating a city. The light-ing was bright and crisp but not to glaring or painfull to look at, it meerly a,plified the colours of the products be-low.
I would definatley class Topshop as River Island’s biggest re-tail rival. They are both high street retailers with similar pricing and both keep up-to-date with the lastest trends as soon as they hit the catwalks. Like Schuh, the lighing in the Topshop window was bright without being over bearing. The garment olour choices created interest as they contrast-ed. The use of various different colours and styles also mean’t multiple different looks were displayed and communicated at the same time which would appeal to a wider scope of the passerbys. These bright colours were offset by a monochrome environment.
Research - Oxford Street competition...
Schuh
The main shops that really caught my attention on the rest of Oxford Street were Schuh and Topshop. Though I wouldnt really see Schuh as competition for River Island in a retail sale sense as they will gen-erally have quite a different target consumer.
The Newcastle store is only a few years old and so has been fitted out with the latest fix-tures and fittings. It is a flagship store and has a very concept kind of feel. The open, double doorway displayed mannequins suspended on a platform just inside the entrance. It was well lit without being at all too bright or over powering. Due to being so open and therefore giving a glimpse of the exciting visuals inside, it really did draw you in. However based on the windows alone this would not be the case. I watched as many members of the public passed straight by the windows but then were lured in by the lighting and music coming from the open door-
ways. I was really surprised by the windows compared to the rest of the store. In true River Island style, only one look was displayed on the mannequins, that of ‘Ditsie Prairie’ part the Road Trip trend
that I will look at further on. This means that although it was a cohesive and tidy look it may only cater to a small percentage of the tastes of customers passing by. The images above show just how dynamic the difference is between what is conveyed by the interior to that conveyed by the window displays. I don’t think these window displays properly rein-force the brand identity of the store as it does not feel ‘design led’, I don’t imagine from this that the clothing would have any ‘unique touches’ or even that they are particularly fashion forward. A strength of the theme is that it’s clean cut and doesn’t distract from the clothing. The lighting is also a strength, the halogen spotlights are not brassy in any-way, they act as daylight and show the garments in their true colours so customers know what they’re getting. At the same time they are not too bright so as to be startling or harsh to a customers eyes which would be off putting.
Research - Newcastle Flagship...
Once inside the New-castle store did not dis-appoint. The fixtures and fittings were more like scaffolding, giving a cool and edgy vibe to the clothes that were dis-played on them and linking back to the brand identity of the company.The in-ternal displays were con-tained on glass shelves within the scaffolding which gave the products the appearance that they were floating and utilised the space effectivley. As with all River Island Stores the women’s department is separated into looks rather than blocking types of clothes i.e. t-shirts. The idea is to encourage the customer to buy a complete look rather than just bits and pieces which again is part of how they want to be seen as a brand. So if the customer is after a t-shirt she will also see, skirts, jumpers, coats and trousers that would com-pliment that particular t-shirt. The layout of the store really helped in selling a look as it divided of the different sections without
completely closing the customer off from any other areas, you could tell where one look ended and another began whilst still being able to see the other looks on offer. The lighting wasn’t at a high intensity across the whole shop which cre-ated a good atmosphere and cast a spotlight on displays and hotspots whilst still showing all the products in their true colours.
Research - Newcastle Flagship...
The footwear department was particularly attractive to me, and not just be-cause I have a shoe addiction. The huge leopard print rug, bright spotlighting, table displays and huge mirrors gave a boutique feel which made you take time to look rather than rushing around and potentially missing something that could catch your eye. My favourite thing about this department though was The beautiful, modern chandelier set in the aqua blue ceiling, again it was touches like this that just made the whole experience feel special and more expensive. This sense of expense and luxury translated onto the products and made it feel like you were buying something of a higher caliber than just a highstreet brand, this made things seem like a bargain which obviously increases chances of sales.
Though I am concentrating primarily on women’s-wear I loved this internal display of men’s clothes at the bottom of the menswear stairs. It was simple but so effective with the blue denim against the charcoal backdrop. It offered outfit choices and sold clothes as well and being aesthetically appealing, I wondered what the impact would have been if that board were tuned around and that display were instead in the window. I think id prefer it.
Research - Newcastle Flagship...
All Saints is not normally a window that catches my eye in Newcastle but with the window now clear of the signiture sewing machines it has become more open and eycatching. It was simple but allowed you to see past the mannequins into the rest of the store. The set-up seemed to me like a photo-shoot with the huge stage lighting., it felt dramaticand definatley caught my at-tention. Thought from the clothes on the mannequins i felt nothing inside would be for me.
Research - Newcastle Competition...
Though not as out-spoken as the window in Oxford Street this is typical Topshop with bright lighting and brash colours. In fact the lighting as a lit-tle bit to much, that combined with the open space in the entrance was quite intimidationg, though i dont want to be stuck in cowds when shopping i also dont want to feel like a rabbit in the headlights. Attention grabbing and makes you take notice.
New Look, I feel, is quite re-served with their visual mer-chandising methods within the store opting more for a self serve, fast-shoping approach rather than selling from sam-ples and displays. So I have been quite surprised to see such a production set up in their windows. I’m not a huge fan of the colour scheme and outfit choices but I think the wardrobe idea works really well and rings a sense of expense and aspiration to the brand.
The Topshop collection of imag-es is dramatically different, you can see here a variety of differ-ent colour schemes, dynamic use of space and multiple dif-ferent creative approaches used. Topshops clothing ranges are no more exciting than River Island’s but a greater sense of artisty and intrigue is created.
Though I did find images of slightly more adventurous window displays from River Island gen-erall the colour pallete is quite muted and relies solely on the same mannequins just with dif-ferent clothing and a basic back-drop. I want more from a brand that describes itself as unique, stylish and based around design.
River Island vs. Topshop...
Screen print for google image search of ‘River Island Window display’
Topshop is definatley River Island’s biggest competition in retail sales and in visual merchandising, before developing my ideas further i wanted to compare a wide range of windows from both shops to see the difference in the im-pact. So i simply performed a Google image search
Screen print for google image search of ‘Topshop Window display’
Visual Merchandising creating internal displaysCreating internal displays is part of my daily job role. Here are some examples of ID’s I have created
within the store. The shoes and to a guideline and so not much imagination went into selections but the rest of the I’s a put together myself to correspond with the looks they belonged to through style and
colours. I normally have quite a bit of free dom in creating the high leve propping and so created interesting compositions with the bags and scarves.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/river-island-heads-across-the-pond-8036648.html
Although nothing has been confirmed yet, an ear-ly season check-in proves that River Island has plenty to shout about:
its new collection is stocked full of its own take on the baroque splendour seen on the rather more exclusive catwalks of labels such as Dolce & Gabbana and Moschino for autumn.
Other key influences include edgy youth and street culture, tailored to a customer base that is directional and discern-ing but keen for a bargain. Prices remain resolutely low, even on items such as shoes and bags that boast thoughtful and com-
plex design features.
“Our customers want fashion with an added twist, and that’s exactly what we do,” explains Farida Kaikobad, the store’s brand director. “New lines go in each week, keeping the stores looking fresh and ensuring customers come back for more. The whole team is very creative and I think this is reflected in our
stores – we’re often referred to as the ‘boutique of the high street!’”
Born as a tiny East London wool shop in 1948, River Island started out as an independent clothing chain across the UK called Lewis Sepa-rates, which later morphed into the Sixties high-street hit Chelsea Girl, selling poppy fashion to the teeny-boppers who con-
gregated on the Kings Road. It acquired its current name only in the early Nineties – incidentally, a dec-ade that much of this season’s stock harks back to, style-wise.
The high street chain River Island has roots in
the bomb sites of post-war London, but last week came speculation that the company would be expanding into the US
early next year. And with the announcement last month that the store was working on a collaboration with international megastar Rihanna, which will launch
next spring, the company seems to be writing its own success story regardless of the recession.
River Island is already firmly established across Europe and Asia, but may yet follow its rival Topshop, which opened a New York store in 2009, and has since expand-
ed across the American heartland. In the US, the concept of the “high street” doesn’t exist as it does here, and Topshop’s pocket money-friendly take
on quirky and cool clothing has proved a hit among young shoppers across the pond.
Having resurrected the Chelsea Girl line in recent years, the company has also added credibility
by working alongside designers such as William Tempest, whose line for the brand launches next month, and sponsoring events at London Fashion Week. This season sees the chain hooking up with fashion designers and film-makers too. “Riv-
er Island is such a successful brand because its style feeds in straight from the street,” says Katherine Ormerod, senior fashion news editor at Grazia. “When you’re in the stores, you see references taken from music videos, from street style websites and from style icons outside the world of catwalk fashion.”
In fact, joining forces with Rihanna came about after the star was spotted out and about wearing several pieces from the store: a simple grey marl T-shirt emblazoned with a Rolling Stones logo; an Aertex mesh cut-out dress, and a pair of barely-there denim hotpants garnered plenty of column inches.
“It’s no mean feat when luxury labels are falling over themselves to dress her,” continues Katherine Ormerod. “Rihanna is the ultimate street-styler – mashing up insid-er labels with high street and designer labels, she seems more authentic than many other starlets.”
“The River Island shopper is fashion savvy, but not a slave to trends or achingly cool,” says Farida Kaikobad. “They all have their own style and shop for either great modern classics or fun seasonal pieces with us.”
Research - River Island goes Stateside...
Research - River Island goes Stateside...
“Show some Stateside love”
“Preppy”
“Varsity”
“Collegiate charm”
“Effortless cool”
“Stars and Stripes flag print”
“Sporty Aesthetics”“Easy-to-wear”
“Urban charm”
Information and images sourced from www.riverisland.com
In the spirit of River Island and Topshop as being direct rivials I dont think it’s hard to pre-empt Riv-er Island’s next move. As the article on the previous page shows rumours have already started ciru-lating that the company has been looking for Manhattan premises, and with Topshop having suceeded in the USA I definately never thought River Island would be far behind. They are already shipping to the States from their online store and have become a well known name there due to their recent collabora-tion with Rihanna. The S/S’13 River Island range is looking particularly ‘American’ right now. Below is a sample of their Varsity/Preppy trend.
Research - River Island goes Stateside...
Information and images sourced from www.riverisland.com and River Island’s Style Insider magazine
Their Road Trip trend emitted a more southern, Americana vibe. S/S’13 was kicked of with this trend showcasing a few different facets of itself. Ditsie Priarie was a very feminine look, incorporating florals with traditional western attire wheras tribal drew on American Indian influences with earth tones and aboriginal style patterns and prints.As the sumer season fully takes hold Road Trip has become a look called Festival that incorporates Western and Denim Couture. West-ern is a look that draws on leather, fringing and other American Cow-boy themes. Denim Couture is a denim lovers dream, the material, tra-ditional American workwear, appears in in jeans, jackets, shitrst and dungarees in various colours and washes.
Information and images sourced from River Island’s Style Insider magazine
Research - River Island goes Stateside...
Even the photoshoots promoting the S/S’13 ranges within Their Style Insider Magazine seems to be shot against an urban American back drop. This was also the case for S/S’12. To me, these shoots con-jure up images of hot, humid days in downtown LA.
Research - Summary
Where-as Topshop is
known for taking influ-ence from the catwalks
River Island’s style comes mainly from the streets
before incorporating more catwalk/high fashion
elements.
Win-dows updaed
on almost a dai-ly basis and changed complety with each new season or pro-motion i.e. Sale or
Rihanna
Large focus on
visual elements and merchandising
within store.
River Island are current-
ly collaborating on two fur-ther ranges with Rihanna who is
obviously hugely popular in the states. When Topshop made the move over seas
they used Kate Moss and her clothing line as a draw to the international audience. The Ri-hanna range has been popular in America with international shipping available on the website. Celebrity endorsement is an effective sell-
ing tool and an international superstar known for their style would be a
huge draw for River Island in America.
Strong evidence to support the
compnay is looking into branching out
in the USA
They have a very
generic template for their window dis-plays. Mannequins stay the same while their
clothing and back drop changes.
There is a strong
American influence in not only their clothing but also their promotional
material.
My research into River Island has confirmed that this is the company I would like to design a store window for. I will be designing the window for the potential opening of a store in Manhattan, as, if rumours are anything to go by, is where
they have been beginning to scout for premises.Instead of designing a window for the new store on its open-ing I want to create a design that anticipates the reaction of
the existing UK flagship stores.I want to design something new for the brand than just changing the backdrops and cloth-
ing on the mannequins. Creating something new for the comapny when they have adhered to the
same formula for so long will really get peo-ples attention, this new and different approach
will relect the new stage for the company as it breaks into the American highstreet. Just as the company as changed from Lewis Seperates to Chelsea Girl to River Island, this change in creative
direction will signify and new era for the blossoming retailer.
For the sake of my design I am going to design for the window as if the USA store will be opening during the A/W’13 season as
it will be easier to forcast trends and there-fore what would be used in the windows. I will be de-signing a window for the winter part of this season but
will not be creating a christmas window. River Island normally implents a Christmas window just a week or so into December and then goes to sale windows from Box-
ing day so I want to create something that would last from mid october till the Christmas windows are implemented.
Research - A/W Press Day
Information and images sourced from: http://www.riverisland.com/styleinsider/blog/2013/04/aw13-press-day and Instagram
To assist in planning my design I looked forwards to the A/W season stock to see that kinds of trends that would be coming into store towards the end of the year. The A/W press day hype on Instagram served as great research for this. The accounts for the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham and Cosmopolitan UK were particularly helpful. River Island also released photos of their Style insider blog.
The A/W’13 collec-tion is a collection of professional , sophis-
ticated pieces that can act as work-wear
or be dressed up . The monochrome colour palette with accent
colours interspersed together with the
furs and other luxe fabrics conjures up
ideas for me of win-ter in New York. The garments work well
for a New York professional who needs so-phistication and practicality that is versatile
enough to be dressed up for drinks in a trendy bar after work. The image shown to the bot-
tom right has a more earthen colour palette
and looks like that look with showcase English grunge. The mix of the two in-store will cre-
ate a great mix that will appeal to both UK and US customers as they look to emulate
the styles of each other.
The Idea
Concept: A more dynamic window concept for the company to celebrate their opening in New York. It will be a winter in the ‘Big Apple’ inspired concept incorporating popular
iconography associated with the city without being gimmicky. It will feature trends from the A/W’14 season collection that strengthen the overall concept.
Rationale: I will be designing a concept for this event because it is a pivotal moment for the company, they will only
break into America for the first time once. Visual merchandising as advertising and promotion of a brand is es-pecially effective when based around a special even as it create a hype and added impact for an existing brand.I have chosen to generate my ideas around this kind of theme because visual merchandising sells life-styles to customers and in the UK we generally admire that which we have seen in programs such as Sex and the
City and Gossip Girl. Creating a connection between River Island and this lifestyle through visual merchandis-ing will also create the connection between the two in the viewer’s mind and increase desirability of not only
the stock but the brand.
It will strengthen the brand identity by promoting the stylish clothing and presenting it in a way that shows the company is design led and showcasing their ‘unique touches’ not only in the clothing but also in their creative direction. I have chosen to do it for the Newcastle Flagship purely because it is a slightly bigger
window space and has a back which opens up me options further in my design process.
What:
Winte
r Windo
w for River Island
Where: Newc
astle Flagship StoreWhen: En
d of Oct - Dec 2013
http://daisyvega.com/wp-content/up-loads/2013/01/Times_Square_Landmark_New_York.jpg
http://www.theworkingworld.org/images/NYSkyline.jpg
http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/masterlu/masterlu1206/master-lu120600003/14143965-new-york-city-march-25-times-square-featured-with-broadway-theaters-and-animated-led-signs-is-a-symb.jpg
Thinking of elements I’d like to incorpo-rate into my design I searched ‘New York’ in Google image search and chose iconic images that immediate read as being New York. The lights of Time Square are always attractive to me in images but would be too over pow-ering for the kind of out come I’m looking
to achieve.
Another iconic New York mage I like is the washing lines threaded between high appart-ment buildings. This could work really well as a design element used to hang acessories off which will add to the look whilst also increasing sellability through utlising empty
space.
The New York Skyline with the em-prire state building watching over the city is a powerful, recognisable image , yet subtle at the same time. The idea of small swinkling lights and building shilouetes could be good to incorpo-
rate.
The vibrant yellow of the taxi cabs against a monochrome background is another image that packs a punch without being too over powering. I think weaving this kind of imagery through my design would work really well in conveying across my desired aesthetic and creating hype
around the new move for the company.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/10/12/opinion/12clothesline1.480.jpg
Mood Board - New York
The window has fixed spotlighting at the base of the window, three to each pane of glass. Bulbs in these can be changed if needed. The lighting above is also spotlights however they are on a rig and so can be moved around and changed as required. This rigging also means there is a structure above that can be used to suspend items etc.
The window is made up of two separate sections of glass. A break in the window of these means slight visual disruption in this part of the win-dow. Another panel of glass intersects into the window in this break and so limits usable space in the central point of the window.
Using my knowledge of how the store windows are set-up as well as studying photos of the Newcastle store window I have conducted a brief assessment of the potential limitations and benefits of working in this particular window. These ele-ments will have to be considered into the my design.
Generating final ideas
Generating final ideas
In this initial idea I just starting col-lecting and placing objects in the win-dow to start generating ideas. I found images of black mannequins like those River Island already use but in dif-ferent poses. I really like the idea of some kind of prop for the mannequin the stand on that resembles a cab. I also added the New York street signs as additional propping and had the idea to suspend sparkly snow flake shapes from the light rigging to bring in the idea of winter.
Generating final ideas
I wanted to add a back drop to the image and also moved the yellow cab and rearranged mannequins to cre-ate a different grouping. I don’t want the mannequins crammed together but would like them to resemble a busy, yet incredibly stylish New York street. I decided to add the River Island logo to the street sign which I actually think is a really nice touch. The one thing I dislike about this image is that the background looks lit by sun light which is no good for a winter scene.
Generating final ideas
This back drop works so much bet-ter. It is subtle yet still striking. It could be accomplished by just using a large printed plastic sticker that could be applied and then removed when need-ed. This would also make it easier to replicate throughout other stores. I still feel something is missing from the set-up. Obviously the mannequins will be dressed in the luxe winter sea-son stock I have previewed online. Fur coats and chic party wear will work nicely with this design. Howev-er I want to add further propping for non-clothing items but feel the space at the feet of the mannequins will be too limited.
Generating final ideasThis is my final design idea for the window. I start-ed placing items of clothing on the mannequins to give a more complete look to the design but I think any-thing further ‘Photoshopped’ onto the image would be too much. Clothing wise I would want it chic and wearable with a mix of party and work-wear with win-ter coats and accessories. The more sparkle the bet-ter! This will link to the front zones in the entrance of the store which will lead on from the windows showcasing a luxe work-wear wardrobe and fabulous party-wear to get into the festive spirit. I decided on adding the branches of a snowy tree as it reminded me of images of the trees in central Park when people go ice skating in the winter months. This is a romantic idea of New York that will really encourage the British public to want to emulate the looks they have seen in films and shows such as Gossip Girl and Sex in the City. The tree branches would just be alight weight plastic covered in white and glitter. I thought this would be a fantastic prop to hang matching accesso-ries on and there fore merchandise the space to the fullest. The base of the window would be full of fake snow and/or glitter, they did this to the bases last year and so will have the materials at hand. Shoe propping as well as being on the mannequins feet will be displayed across the front of the window and also on the taxi prop complete with price boards. The overall look is ambitious and would celebrate the move to America without alienating any British cus-tomers, in fact it would probably attract more. The general base of the window design s very true to the River island formulae but exciting props, more elabo-rate backgrounds and new mannequins would reinvig-orate the brand and really cause a stir on the hight street.
Bibliography
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Portas. M. (1999) Windows: The Art of retail Design. London: Thames & Hudsonhttp://www.ricksegel.com/blog/bid/78878/Recommended-Article-Visual-Merchandising-Tips-and-Tech-niques-of-Visual-Merchandising
