On most days, a stroll along 5th Avenue has the potential to be a stop start affair. But now, with the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center lit up – well – like a Christmas tree – 5th is one step short of bedlam. Still, it has to be worth the shoulder bumps, clipped heels and bags across the shins, right? 5th Avenue is one of the world’s great thoroughfares. The brands and stores that line it must have spent months readying winter wonderland window displays? Well, not everyone got the memo, as even a brisk walk along these glittering sidewalks would seem to indicate.
For those readers planning a pre-Christmas shopping trip to Manhattan, the spectacle of 5th starts around 40th. From there, walking north on the west side of the avenue, your first glimpse of Christmas present is a set of rather off-the-shelf conical fir trees in the window of Golfsmith’s, purveyors of woods and sand wedges. There’s a distinct lack of mince pies and sherry in this lackluster effort.
(Lord&Taylor Christmas windows)Luckily, for advocates of opulence the high-end department store Lord & Taylor nearby more than compensates. Its 2013 display is all pulleys, wires, cutouts and dolls. The retailer asked customers to send in their Christmas memories, and then 12 were picked and transformed into a series of charming tableaux. The store has also embraced social media, and offers those waiting in line an opportunity to be snapped for posterity by a window mounted digital camera. A ‘take again’ option provides a safety net for the selfie-obsessed and a large screen shares the image with you, your friends, and the shuffling masses beyond. Once your happy with the image, it’s time to move on.Next come the austere golden stars of Zara and an equally spartan plywood affair in the window of Fossil. It’s not the only rough hewn bit of carpentry on display on 5th in the run up to the big day, but it’s certainly an improvement on Urban Outfitter’s DIY across the way. Striding onward, and just before you reach the magnificent 76-foot, 12-ton tree at Rockefeller Center, the National Basketball Association’s shop window has just one subtle indication that the season is upon us; its oversize mannequins sport woolly hats belonging to the bigger franchises. And that’s your lot, from the administrators of a sport that had estimated revenues of $5billion in 2012. Bah, humbug!
(Henri Bendel's window inspired by celebrated cartoonist Hirschfield)A few low-key efforts later and you arrive at Henri Bendel, just north of 55th. This year, its windows are a celebration of the celebrated cartoonist Hirschfield. His portraits of Monroe, Hepburn and SJP are brought to life in three dimensions, along with a self-portrait of the artist at work. The Bendel building, already famed for its Lalique windows (protected by law thanks to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) looks suitably jolly.As the street numbers increase, so, it appears, do the window dresser’s budgets. Bulgari’s glittering serpent coils itself round their corner plot, its ruby eyes gazing on the shoppers below. Further on, Bergdorf Goodman’s impeccable standards remain consistently high. It is a remarkably luxurious affair, with the exception of one window that has been presented upside down. Captioned as an April Fools joke, it could at least make an effort to be funny, which apart from being upside down, it isn’t.
(Bulgari's serpent wrapped around its 5th Avenue store)59th Street is the natural point for the Christmas shopper on 5th Avenue to about turn and start the journey back south. Magnificent in its isolation above the throng, the UNICEF snowflake fashioned from Baccarat crystal is arguably the most striking object of all. Glistening in the fading light of late afternoon, it’s hard to miss as you begin the return journey. How many of those passing underneath it understand its meaning is hard to know.Past this, the east side of the street, with a couple of notable exceptions, is generally disappointing.Louis Vuitton has let a gaggle of farmyard geese roam free in amongst their season’s finest luggage, and Gucci seems to be paying homage to Thomas Heatherwick’s ‘B of the Bang’ with a window full of spiky gold ejaculations. Hong Kong based retailer Blanc de Chine has created a moonscape of rocks and red baubles, their mannequins wrapped up against the elements. Cartier’s frosty display uses the beautifully made L’Odyssée de Cartier movie on flat screen TVs - all panthers and Parisian walkways - to attract willing and well-heeled buyers.
(Louis Vuitton) It’s an inconsistent year on 5th, but there’s still much to admire, and a fair bit to chuckle at (with the possible exception of Tommy Bahamas’ ‘Happy Huladays’). Of the best, three displays deserve special mention.Diesel’s skull/motorcycle helmet/antler motif is as un-Christmassy as you could hope for from this unerringly off-kilter lot, and the multi-screen movie is wonderfully jarring and a much needed tonic for the cynical.Manhattan institution Saks took a step forward in grasping social and mobile media to devise a means of their customers including unique snowflake designs within the display. Then they took two back by creating the Saks Yeti that lives on the roof, making snow.
(Saks 5th Avenue's Christmas Yeti)And finally there’s Apple. Inside its magnificent glass cube at the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street is a tower of scaffolding swathed in sheets of brown paper. Peeping from the top of the wrapping is a glowing white peak. Beyond that, there’s no indication of what lies beneath, at time of writing at least. It is perhaps fitting that the world’s biggest and arguably most creative company is biding its time, letting the rest of 5th Avenue do its best before finally unveiling its own vision of Christmas. But then Apple always has had a thing about windows, hasn't it?
