It's Chriiiiiiistmas!

We've already taken a look at Christmas adverts this year, and now one of my favourite Christmassy thing..shop windows! Every year the big retailers spend a good year coming up with their concepts and ideas for their Christmas windows, I enjoy seeing what they've made and who's is the best! 


John Lewis

John Lewis have attempted to "wow shoppers young and old" , with their animal themed winter woodland windows. The store wanted to create inspiring displays to delight whilst still ensuring products remain the focus. They have done this by creating animals made of their products, which include a Dyson reindeer, a bear fashioned from furniture, a utensil rabbit and Turkey made from towels.

Harrods

The department store has chosen to go with a large steam train , 'The Harrods Express' for their festive window this year. Each window shows passengers in a different carriage of the locomotive.  Each luxurious carriage showcases the stores clothing, accessories and homewards.The carriages are complete with digital screens that show outside scenery and snow falling as if the train is actually moving.Apparently it took 500 hours to build and features an £80,000 dress by Ralph & Russo.

Liberty 

Liberty's Christmas windows this year show cartoon style explosions of gifts, with fairy lights blasting from the middle. This was inspired by the dazzling flash created from the pull of a christmas cracker. Gifts are displayed in the middle of the flashes on polished chrome shelves, whilst jewel-encrusted mannequins show off the party wear from this season. The store has kept with this theme and has a giant cracker bursting above their main entrance.

Selfridges

The Selfridges windows feature a giant bottle of Viktor and Rolf's Flowerbomb perfume and a host of other oversized Christmas gifts for this season, plonked on snowy mounds, surrounded by Christmas trees as though they have just dropped out of the sky, I love this window especially the giant tub of play dough thats pouring over the snow.

Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols' Christmas windows are colourful, glitzy and sparkling with light this year. They have used coloured bulbs to add a warm, subtle glow to the displays which feature mannequins dressed in the latest clothing from this season.The substantial amount of glitter, dangling snow flakes and brightly coloured stars give the windows a tacky christmassy feel, but thats not a bad thing! here they are..

My favourites this year are Harrods luxurious Harrods Express window display and Selfridges huge gifts on the snow window display, I can't decide which I prefer! What's your favourite festive display this year?

NARS Guy Bourdin collection

François Nars, founder of cosmetics giant, NARS has admired the work of French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin since discovering his images on the pages of Vogue Paris and Harper's Bazaar as a child. This Autumn he has created a complete collection inspired by his work.

The company have been influenced by Bourdin's most iconic imagery and have taken the aesthetic and signature bright colours and translated them into vibrant blushes,lipsticks,polishes and shadows.
"It was only a matter of time before I created an entire collection around him and his work," says Nars. "I always dreamed about this. Boudin's influence is everywhere in my life; it's in the DNA of Nars." 
Here's some of Guy Bourdin's photography..

Another element Nars wanted to take from Bourdin was his rebellious streak. His work was highly controversial and he was known for pushing the boundaries of fashion photography. Francois Nars wanted to bring this to the collection and let women know"there are no rules." Nars have released the collection in the run up to the Christmas party season, as it's the perfect time for women to be adventurous with makeup and try something new.

NARS Guy Bourdin collection starts at £14.50 and is available from Selfridges.

Return to luxury

24 Carat Jeans?!

To celebrate the launch of Selfridges' super sized denim Studio, that opens on June 24th, coveted denim label JBrand unveil their new jeans, complete with 24 carat gold rivets and a price tag setting you back £525.  According to JBrand's Creative Director Donald Oliver, the jeans do "..The same job as a LBD, but a little tougher" and apparently "It's the next step in giving our girl something she can wear in the evening."
In all honesty it sounds  a little excessive to me, for just a pair of jeans. Its quite ironic and almost as though the fabric has come full circle, as denim was originally created during the gold rush for workers as they needed durable trousers to withstand hard labour when gold mining, and now the jeans are getting covered in 24 carats themselves!

Sam Rollinson for JBrand's Little Black Jean Collection

Britain produces and purchases more luxury goods than anywhere else in the world, so what does this say about the British fashion shopper?! I think this may be signalling that in our recession British consumers have realised that its better to choose quality over quantity. Saving up for a quality piece that costs a little more works out better in the long run than buying many shoddily made garments from bargain shops such as Primark. This is better for the environment, factory workers overseas and the economy in the long run. Either way I don't think I'll be saving up for the 24 Carat jeans anytime soon...