All Photos Courtesy of Randy Brooke.

In honor of Sarah Burton’s visit to the Academy of Art University School of Fashion, Neiman Marcus in Union Square came up with some tantalizing Alexander McQueen window displays. They featured look from the house’s Spring/Summer ’12 collection, gorgeous gold and cream suits and dresses that hug every curve. What we wouldn’t do to get our hands on one of those! For now, we’ll just have to settle for window shopping.

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The windows at 79 New Montgomery are in full fashion mode! Each window features former Guests of Honor including Oscar de la Renta, Rosita and Tai Missoni, Azzedine Alaïa, and more – all illustrated by School of Fashion Executive Director Gladys Perint Palmer. And included in several of the displays are runway images from students’ collections who earned internships with our prestigious guests.

We’ll find out who will join the ranks of these very lucky students tonight at the Graduation Fashion Show and Awards Ceremony – fingers crossed for all of our amazing students!

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Francis Liang was inspired by the work of Jackson Pollock.

Here are some amazing window displays created by Russell Clower’s Visual Merchandising 2 students! The project asked students to create a shadowbox window display for a men’s or women’s fragrance, incorporating a particular period of art history or the style of a particular artist that matched the image of the brand and it’s fragrance. Students drew from a variety of eras and artists – and we’re seriously loving what they came up with! What artist or artistic period would be the perfect match for your signature scent? Tell us in the comments below!

Caitlyn Randrup was inspired by Hollywood director and choreographer Busby Berkeley.

Abilen Mora was inspired by Cubism.

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You’ve hopefully seen the beautiful window displays that some of our visual merchandising students created for the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, and now we have some behind the scenes action!

The students, along with their instructor Martin Zanfardino, worked on the displays for months. They made sure that every last detail was perfect, and their hard work paid off – the displays turned out beautifully. Just the other day, the InterContinental Mark Hopkins team tweeted “@aaufashion The windows looked wonderful this year- the guests are loving them!” 

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On Thursday, December 15th, 2011, students from the School of Fashion unveiled their window displays at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. Since 2005, visual merchandising students have worked with the hotel each year to create interior window displays that highlight the hotel’s rich and exciting history.

Three of the displays are located on the California level and one is located on the main level. The main level display is titled, “New Kids on the Block” and showcases new employees at the hotel. The geometric shapes create a modern display that contrasts beautifully with hotel’s vintage feel.

New Kids on the Block – By Gina Chou and Kevin Mihovich. L-R: Instructor Martin Zanfardino, Gina Chou, and Jim Cardosa

On the California level, the first display is “Greetings from the Mark”. Set against a beautiful background of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in the San Francisco skyline, vintage postcards cascade from a hand-constructed mailbox. The postcards tell stories of guests’ adventures at The Mark, dating all the way back to the 1930s. Many of the post-cards were bought online from vintage dealers, and give the display true meaning, as they are part of the hotel’s story.

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A Window Display at Bergdorf Goodman

Hello everyone! I have returned to blogging for Fashion School Daily and am excited to give my posts a bit of a New York City – style spin for a few weeks.

When I moved to New York in May, I left a lot of my art and craft supplies at home. I know, I know – how could Danielle survive for over a week without her hot glue gun? Believe it or not, I made it through the summer without one, but with the changing seasons, I was reminded of my packing mishaps.

Glorified Zippers at Bergdorf's

From uptown to downtown, I noticed that a frenzy of every day household items have become the “it” prop or decoration in display windows. With even smaller budgets and serious seasonal transition windows to design, Merchandisers have finally taken their knick-knack collections and put them to use.

More Knick-Knacks at Bergdorf's

The Men Get Crafty at Bergdorf Goodman

Forget eating off Grandma’s china – this season, Bergdorf’s wants consumers to get their dining collections out of storage and mounted on the walls! In addition, seamstress zippers received a glorified moment in Bergdorf’s elegant jungle-like composition. At the Men’s store, geometric rubber band and nail art was created on the back walls, while rope and natural wood planks set the scene. All items found in Dad’s garage, yeah?

Painting Like Pollock at Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta gave me a few messy Pollock inspired ideas with their paint can display on Fifth Avenue. A splash of a trend color, anyone?

Records on Display at H&M

And here's their other half!

H&M had a male/female window face off in Soho while using classic vinyl records as props. Merchandisers really stretched their dollar by using the sleeve in one window, while placing the vinyl record itself in another.

Icebergs in the Windows at Moncler

Now for the show-stopper – Moncler’s foam core sculpted iceberg! Let’s bypass Fall altogether and go straight to chilly January in the middle of August. Although it may be ahead of the season, using a little leftover foam core from your past craft projects never hurt anyone!

Vinyl Eyebrows and Eyelashes at Zara

Merchandisers’ new obsession with vinyl sticker makeovers is in full force in New York this summer as well. Cute bob haircuts, striking eyebrows, and even a full pout have been carefully cut out of vinyl sticker material and used in a playful way for fall. If only my body was made of plastic.

Written by Danielle Wallis.

Dear Technology,

I’ve been eyeing your recent partnership with the art of visual merchandising — and I love where the collaboration is going. The visual and branding industries are changing forever because of your latest sensory videos, mechanics, 4D store displays, and architectural mapping.

My recent favorite creation you made was to celebrate the launch of Ralph Lauren’s new UK web site. The installation was viewed outside at Ralph Lauren’s new Bond Street and Madison Avenue stores with no screens, glasses, or wires, and a splash of fragrance in the air.

I am extremely inspired by the creativity and believability of the video. (And can’t wait for more luxury designers to catch on – can you imagine a 4D presentation by Vivienne Westwood or Rei Kawakubo?)

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We are more than happy to add “Off the Rack” to Fashion School Daily, the new weekly blog post by Danielle Wallis (you may remember her Fashion Week banter with Harry Go). She will be giving her two cents on display windows, fashion and the retail world — with her first post exploring the Halloween windows around San Francisco (hence the title of the post).

This season, Cole Fox Hardware (yes, a hardware store) gets my vote for the most creative use of products in a Halloween inspired visual display. Who knew that clamps, funnels, and black vinyl gloves could look so creepy?!

Cole Fox’s creative product placement truly enhances the spookiness in their windows. For instance, take a look at those black gloves standing upright. The longer I look at them, the more I think they are going to come alive and come get me!

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