Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Window Browsing at Bergdorf

Bergdorf Goodman's 2008 Holiday Window Displays on 58th Street are truly astounding. Each window display is an intricate, whimsical work of fairy tale art (a couture designer's version of a fairy tale). This is definitely our first time seeing department store window displays of this nature. Looking at the window displays were far more enjoyable than wandering inside Bergdorf surrounded by society dames wearing fur and dripping in diamonds (that probably cost more than most people's yearly salaries) and snooty sales people that apparently only greet customers wearing sparkles and European labels. Thoughts of recession were probably not on the minds of the Bergdorf shoppers. We were only able to take a few photos but just look at the details.


Every year Bergdorf tries to out-do their previous year's holidays displays and are highly anticipated. This year's amazing works by David Hoey and his window design team are going to be pretty hard to top. We read that Hoey and his team drew inspiration for this year's theme of year-round journey with seasonal muses in ethereal white-on-white schemes from the dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History.

The window displays include haute couture and antiques.

The design team might have been channeling some creative energy from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for this window; it reminded us of the "Tonight, Tonight" video.

We weren't able to see them all so we'll have to go back to see them in its entirety, including those of the men's department across the street. In the meantime, we were able to find some of the other window displays we haven't seen yet online here. Here's some of our favorites, including this great scene of playing chess with an owl on the edge of a snowy cliff.

Closeup of Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Window on 58th Street

The great thing about these window displays is that they're free works of art for the rest of us to enjoy and appreciate - for those that can't afford or don't necessarily want to enter the world of Bergdorf's society on the other side of these windows.

Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Window Closeup

Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Window Display

Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Window Closeup


Closeup of Seasons Greetings Window Display on 57th Street

It's interesting that a store like this had such humble beginnings - from a small tailor shop opened by an immigrant to this grandiose store at the site of the Vanderbilt mansion.