1921, The American Magazine of Art, Vol XII, No 4
President of Fifth Avenue Association
An opportunity is given to the public through window displays, “to see and appreciate not only the best in fine arts, but the more modern achievements for the apple arts for which America [has gained] recognition the world over”
“People have a greater understanding of things artistic” (p.115)
Mr. Edwin Howland Blashfield commented at a “Fifth Avenue Week conferences when he said “We have too many so-called works of art and too few works of craftmanship”.
- link to craftsmanship in Do Design Book
“utilizing the wonderful art treasures and artistic merchandise of the Fifth Avenue shops and stores through artistic window displays” “thus stimulating the encouragement of the art in commerce throughout the nation of Fifth Avenues leadership.” (links to the Riemann pioneering commerce)
‘In old Bagdad arose the custom of exhibiting and selling goods in open booths’ in visually creative displays called ‘bazzars’. (p.115) Harvey Nichols today have ‘beauty bazaars’ exploring imaginative graphics and influences from all over the world.
“but it is from these primitive methods of merchandising that the profession of the expert decorator or display manager has been developed” (p.116)
“pituresque simplicity” (p.116)
The “dingy store” displays clothes on “a hanger outside the shop” and are influenced more directly by the Bazaars, and have not evolved or specialised their method of shop-front communication. It shows the necessity of the design process in the success of outcomes, without this creative knowhow, taught at places like the Riemann School, the world would not be able to enjoy this spectacle again.
Attracting consumers is key, “a favourable impression must precede a sale” (p.116)
‘a knowledge of colour harmony and of what constitutes an attractive display’ (p.116)
Success “depends chiefly on [the] power of observation”, or the establishment’s success they are working for.
“colour is a silent salesman”
“The best window display is that which most attractively exhibits the merchandise on which a store’s reputation is based, for it is this window which will sell the most goods” (p.116)
“A window display should be planned with the same common sense and artistic arrangement as would be designing a gown or painting a picture.” “it must be above all- well balanced”.
“the spectator gets a single impression that is a lasting one and that is the result that you seek to achieve”, aka, theres no second chance at a first impression.
Windows hold greater importance ‘in the relation of merchandising’.
“the West have made greater progress than the east” in terms of window communication and design. Removing international retailers, the premise has never evolved to a modernist ideology, yet remained at ‘show to communicate’.
“no city in the world is the incentive for artistic window displays so great as in New York” (p.116), perhaps due to the nature of Broardway and the classism of ‘entertainment’. The term ‘Old New York’ is flung around referring the ‘good old days’ of Sinatra and Upper-west-side socialites dining at the Plaza, a town revelling on new and old money. The spirit associated to this time is frozen in time, by other artworks and musicals transporting us back to that point in time (eg: Frank Sinatra, New York New York). Some Manhattanites pride the city of its aspirational qualities and that is definatley present today through stores like Bergdorfs, targeting the same demographic but merchandising to “a different woman” (Oscar De La Renta Quote, Bergdorfs doc).
When considering Fifth Avenues power within the design world and the commercial market, “no other thoroughfare is so great a variety of shops covering the whole range of merchandise and art and excising so great an influence on the public tastes” (p.117)
“Here, indeed, the show window are the people’s picture galleries, and have a distinct educational influence” (p.117) - Show windows differ from Shop Windows. Show windows are what holds and retains an artistic quality, rather than quantitative influencing the creativity.
“Popularising art through window displays”- Dr John H Finley, President of New York State University
“Art value is determined aesthetically and in the eyes of aesthetics the art of ancient Greece, mediaeval France and modern America are one. Fifth avenue is the renvez-vous of merchants who distribute both foreign and domestic wares. Democracy in art provides a place for both” (p.117)
“We are at last to be free from the shackles of tradition in art. Let Fifth Avenue proclaim this to the people”. (p.117)
“Art Quality will never sell a product if the consumer is ignorant of what constitutes the art quality”. In my home town, the emphasis is placed on budget factors and ‘what is the cheapest’. Hughstreet stores outside of major cities, therefore take a cheaper approach and incorporate more signs and graphics to communicate the main message. Often, this message is “two bra’s for £19.99”, rather than ‘We Stock Halston’.
Ignorance is what hinders the power of a window display.
Cooke says, “the educational purpose underlying such a demonstration should be clearly defined and published” (p.117), much like a Typeface would have a manifesto. Windows need to integrate with other marketing collateral as well as editorial. A fully rounded campaign would include a concept or ‘scheme’ running concurrently and fluidly through all window visuals. Advertising, digital experience and print/editorial collateral should then be incorporated to best fulfil the customers well rounded experience.
“Principles of constructive design should be exemplified and emphasised everywhere, and the reiteration of these principles should echo and re-echo as one passes down the street” (p.117)
“A few lines of in-script should accompany and reinforce each display”. (p.117)
“Attention must be arrested and held.. unite rather than divide mankind”, similarly to Helvetica’s role as a typeface. (p.117)
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