New York Christmas shop windows. New Year shop window decorations: European experience of Dolce&Gabbana and family values

The most important holiday in Russia is considered New Year. In Europe, America and other countries - Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25th. Traditionally, it is customary to celebrate it at home, in the circle of loved ones, relatives and the dearest people. special festive atmosphere create long-term traditions, as well as special New Year paraphernalia, which both Russians and Europeans use to decorate their homes, windows and shop windows.

History and modernity

Showcases, like the first glass, appeared in England at the end of the 17th century. Simple theater workers and artists were engaged in registration. The profession of decorators became widespread only in the 19th century, and the showcases themselves were open and looked like ordinary boxes. At that time, kerosene lamps were used to illuminate the goods, electricity began to be used only at the end of the 19th century. At the same time, the first technologies appeared that made it possible to create large glass showcases that did not have a back wall, and through them one could observe what was happening in the store. The design of that time was creative, real people participated in the scenery, who acted out small theatrical scenes, sat on a stool in a shop window, knitted or painted pictures. However, over time, the fashion for live mannequins became a thing of the past, and mechanical mannequins, Santa Clauses, Christmas trees and lanterns began to be used to decorate the main windows of the building. Every year the design became more complex and inventive, and the compositions in the window became a whole story. Competition is an important factor that greatly stimulates when creating modern decor, because with the help of unusual design finds, you can come up with a whole world through the looking glass, which every passer-by wants to visit.

For any European country, festively decorated shop windows are not just a tradition, but high art and one of the main components of the Christmas atmosphere. The best design finds and the secrets of decorating New Year's shop windows are carefully hidden from the public and not shown until a certain moment, but the "X-day" is coming, and the inhabitants of European cities are immersed in the atmosphere of magic and fairy tales that have been prepared for them. best designers world. Not so long ago, a new trend appeared in Europe. The usual at first glance traditional showcase was replaced with a transparent glass pediment. Such glass is very convenient, it makes it possible to simultaneously cover the entire department store with a glance, starting from the lower floors and ending with the upper ones. Looking at the shop window, there is an invisible feeling that you are inside the building. To enhance the effect, manufacturers of window products began to use special glass, in which there is no reflection at all.

Features of the holiday and window dressing in England

London. Big Ben begins to ring very quietly even before the New Year. With the approach of midnight, the bells intensify and become audible throughout the district. Lovers kiss under the branches of mistletoe, which is considered a magical tree. Doors are wide open in houses to let in the New Year. There is turmoil on the streets, the air smells of fragrant punch and Christmas pastries, the city is enveloped in a New Year's fairy tale. London shops are transformed and sparkling, enticing and bewitching. For residents and guests of the city, walking along the illuminated streets and viewing shop windows has become a long tradition. AT English language there is even an expression “go window-shopping”, which means a walk to explore the windows.

By Christmas, the windows of the famous, largest and most expensive department store in the UK "Harrods" (Harrods) are filled with an atmosphere of luxury and glamour. The history of the department store began in 1824, when a small grocery store was opened. Later, the store began to supply products for the royal family, a confirmation of this was the appearance of royal coats of arms on the wall of the building.


Three years ago, The Harrods Christmas Express' huge storefront was stylized in the spirit of travel. In a luxurious compartment, men and women imposingly settled down on velvet sofas. They were stylishly dressed, jewelry shimmered from the light, everyone drank cocktails and had small talk. The atmosphere of the train was thoroughly saturated with celebration and fun. A steam locomotive from the past seemed to burst into bright and modern London. Around everything was in an adult way, in the windows - no Christmas deer, no gnomes, no Santa Claus.

Selfridges store (Selfridge), which is already more than 100 years old, fascinated with an impressive showcase called "GingerbreadLostLondon", which in English means " lost city from gingerbread, or Gingerbread London, which is not. To create such a masterpiece, 80 liters of syrup, 1245 kg of glaze and 353 kg of gingerbread cookies were used, and the time it took to make Gingerbread London was 400 hours. Here you could also see a snow-white ski resort, on which Santa Claus descended, tiny gingerbread houses with marzipan roofs and telephone booths. All this was tastefully played with designer items from new collections of clothes and shoes.

Christmas in France. Christmas windows in Paris

Paris. Pere Noel is a French Santa Claus who arrives on New Year's Eve on a donkey and enters the house through the chimney, leaving gifts in children's shoes. Four weeks before Christmas, Advent and Advent begin in France. During Advent, a mass is celebrated in Catholic churches in honor of the Virgin Mary, which is called "rorata", but the main event of the whole holiday is Reveillon - a festive Christmas dinner, which means the birth, "awakening" of Jesus Christ.

Paris is a style icon, trendsetter, it is rightfully considered a recognized leader in the design of Christmas shop windows. The Eiffel Tower, scattering of lights, kilometers of light, everything sparkles with colorful fireworks, the city is changing. In the heart of Paris, in front of the main city hall building, a skating rink is flooded, all kinds of chalets are set up on the central streets, various sweets, decorations and children's toys are laid out in beautiful rows on the shelves. Giant Christmas balls, deer carrying Per Noel through the cottony snow, silvery snowflakes, angels and gnomes - all indicate the approach of a grandiose holiday.

The concept of window dressing is developed by designers very carefully and is planned in advance for whole year. Samples of worthy showcases are filled with complex and voluminous decorations. There are unofficial showcase art competitions in which major shopping centers and department stores. They invest impressive amounts of money in the design of New Year's miniatures, adding something new and original to the idea every year.

The famous Parisian store Printemps, which means “Spring”, is considered a classic of the New Year showcase genre and is the most elite and respectable shopping center in the country. The magnificent example of Art Nouveau architecture that adorns Ossmann Boulevard has long been famous throughout the world for its magnificent compositions. "Spring" is always difficult to compete with its neighbor department store Galeries Lafayette (Gallery Lafayette). Each showcase of these stores is an extraordinary fairy-tale show, and the design is attended by best houses fashion. Crowds of tourists follow the magical action that unfolds in the window niche, and for small children, the organizers install special bridges from which it is convenient to follow the movement of the puppets.

Each year, Printemps chooses a brand to partner with and create Christmas windows. In 2012, the fashion house Dior showed its version of Christmas to the French, in 2013 - Prada, and in 2014 the choice fell on Burberry.

Christmas 2012 was remembered by Parisians and tourists of the city for the unusually beautiful window dressing in the spirit of the puppet theater. About 80 homemade dolls, dressed in dresses from the Dior collections of different years, fascinated and attracted the eye. The dolls were placed in showcases and were connected with special thin threads. Thanks to the mechanism, they moved, flew, skated and danced to the beat of the mesmerizing music. All presented models demonstrated stylish clothes of the world brand Dior.

Printemps celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. In honor of this event, six brands were involved in the Christmas decoration of the shop windows at once: Christian Louboutin, Burberry, Lancôme, Longines, Sonia Rykiel and Evian. On the occasion of the anniversary, the facade of the building and shop windows were decorated with a huge number of flowers, and the design was dedicated to the theme of innovation and creativity.

This year, the Christmas decoration of the Parisian department store Printemps was prepared in collaboration with the children's fashion brand Bonpoint.

The plot revolves around the children Jules and Violet, who make a big trip through the department store. Their companion and guide is the Cherry doll, the mascot of the French fashion house. In the windows, kids are greeted by puppet dolls dressed in outfits from the brand's special holiday collection, which is made in red and gold. The organic elements of the composition are the traditional attributes of Christmas - sparkling fir trees, colorful gifts and a large table for a festive banquet.

Christmas in Germany. New Year's showcases in Berlin

AT Berlin for the Christmas holidays begin to prepare in advance. As well as in France, in Germany, the pre-Christmas time “Advent” is coming, to which numerous customs are timed. A wreath of spruce branches appears in every house, four candles are placed in it, which symbolize the four Sundays of the coming Christmas. The first "Advent" is celebrated on November 27, then the holiday continues every subsequent Sunday, until December 18. Berlin smells like a holiday, the air is filled with the heady smell of cinnamon waffles, roasted chestnuts and honey gingerbread, and the aroma of hot mulled wine and roasted almonds is crazy. On New Year's Eve, thousands of Germans gather at the Brandenburg Gate, where you can watch fantastic fireworks and participate in the largest outdoor disco in Europe.

Christmas markets in Berlin are held annually and attract crowds of tourists. AT German there is even a special word for Schaufensterbummeln (shopping windows). Already at the end of November, all the central streets are flickering with festive lights, shop windows are transformed and immersed in fairy tale. The Germans walk the streets with great pleasure and enthusiastically look at the bewitching shop windows. Usually Berlin is not considered as a city where you can spend shopping. But in vain: in the shops of this beautiful European capital there is something to see and buy. Prices in Berlin are higher than in other European countries, but there are fewer tourists than in London or Paris. On the eve of Christmas, shop windows completely change their appearance. It is very pleasant to walk around the city and look at their festive decoration. All showcases are lit with soft light, they housed Christmas tree balls, golden angels, St. Nikolaus and a manger with baby Jesus Christ. Previously, when there was no lighting on the streets, housewives had to put candles on the windows so that passers-by, during night walks along the streets, could look at the goods laid out on the shops. Today everything has changed: modern Berlin burns with bright lights, and its shopping centers shine with luxury and voluminous, moving scenery.

Kaufhaus des Westens (translated as "Department Store of the West"), or KaDeWe for short, is one of the three largest department stores in Europe. Its history spans over a hundred years. A huge eight-story building occupies several blocks in the very center of Berlin, about 180 thousand people visit it every day. The department store presents all the largest brands in the world: Dior, Prada, Gucci and others. Every year, the store hosts the so-called “decoration show”, which attracts both locals and tourists to see. Fantastic, richly decorated showcases, changing their appearance and theme every year, are considered the face, calling card KaDeWe, a work of art in which colossal design work has been invested. They cause a storm of emotions, and, as signals, stimulate the desire of a passer-by to go to the store and buy something.

AT Russia the tradition of decorating shop windows before the New Year and Christmas is not yet as common as in Europe. The largest department stores of the two capitals (for example, TSUM, GUM and the Gallery shopping mall) are already adopting the experience of their foreign colleagues. Perhaps in the future this trend will be supported in smaller cities.

There is just a little bit left before Christmas and New Year, New Year's fever is already beginning to cover the cities, and the largest New York stores are in a hurry to decorate their windows as brightly and luxuriously as possible.

(Total 12 photos)

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1. People walk past shop windows on Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. The store has installed digital projectors on this street that emit images and balloons on the facade of the building. The images on the building are accompanied by 2.5 minutes of music and a light show that starts every 10 minutes from 17:00 to 22:30. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

2. A woman at the window of the store "Bergdorf Goodman". In this store on Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, the windows are designed in the style of traveling to fantastic places and other planets and have the general name "I wish you were here." Storefront director David Hoyi says a holiday is always a medley of arrivals and departures, and sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected places, like movies and Roman mythology. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

3. Passers-by look at the decorated windows of the Macy's store. This year, the store decided to decorate the windows based on true story about Virginia O'Hanlon, an eight-year-old girl who wrote to the editors of the newspaper " New York Sun" in 1987 asking "Does Santa Claus really exist?" “Yes, Virginia, Santa exists,” they answered her, and this phrase became a catch phrase. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

4. Mini showcase at Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. The showcase consists of 12 mechanical scenes on a Christmas theme, which were created on the basis of the most interesting stories told by buyers. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

5. A Bergdorf Goodman store employee adjusts a window display under the guidance of chief designer David Boyi. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

6. The Lord & Taylor window draws the attention of passers-by. It was called “Share Happiness”, and it has a lot of sweets, gifts, snow-covered streets, houses decorated with wreaths, Santa's sleigh with deer and, of course, Christmas trees. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

7. "Saks" decided this year to take a new approach to decorating the streets on new year holidays. The result is a digital miracle: projections of snowflakes and balls rush through the buildings to a remix of the famous Christmas song, and the balls can “get stuck” under the window sills, and the snowflakes accumulate on them. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

8. Large stores have large windows. The windows of Saks mirror Rockefeller Center with its octopus-style display cases. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

9. Fabulous Tiffany's Fifth Avenue Storefront with heart necklace and hummingbird key encrusted precious stones. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

10. Claude O'Sullivan and her two-year-old son Jack were on their way to the store to buy a shredder, but on the way they stopped and looked at the magical display case of Lord & Taylor. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

11. Passers-by look at the magnificent display window of the Bergdorf Goodman store, which looks like an illustration for a book or an exhibition in a museum. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

12. A kaleidoscope of color at Bergdorf Goodman. The "Wish You Were Here" showcase is made mostly of paper. (Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)

So the magical time has come when walking you can see beautiful and fabulous shop windows full of original decorations and bright illuminations. Colleagues from the publication Timeout.ru have collected for you the TOP 12 most beautiful shop windows in Moscow, which not only attract, but simply make you stop and look at all the New Year's details. So let's get started!

1. TSUM showcase decoration in the style of a fairy tale

The older we get, the less we believe in miracles! But it was not there! TSUM showcases are designed exactly in the style New Year's fairy tale that beckons and bewitches. Here you can find the sleeping beauty, and the Frog Princess waiting for the prince, and the mermaids, who are located on golden chains. Fairy-tale heroes dressed in chic evening gowns from famous designers as if from the 19th century.

2. Tiffany & Co showcases in GUM in the style of the Tiffany Theater

New Year's showcases are made in a combination of shades "gives" and white, which makes New Year's showcases of special tenderness and New Year's mood. In the shop windows themselves, it seems as if a real theater is located with its small performances. Such mini-theaters are framed with natural spruce branches, which are powdered with snow. On the “stage”, that is, in the window, you can see fabulous deer and wolves, a fireplace with gifts and even a sleigh with the desired blue boxes.

3. Bosco (Prive) and windows in the style of a winter forest

The stylish showcase of the personal service salon immerses us in the winter forest, who, on the polar bear, are girls enclosed in a glass ball and constantly swirling fluffy snow. The fairy-tale bear is skillfully disguised as a wooden deck, and the composition itself is immersed in a snow-covered forest grove.

4. Hermès and bears

All six showcases of the Hermes boutique pleased with their creativity and positive attitude. Here you can watch bears and fish in a variety of situations (who is fishing, and lacy has hibernated). The most interesting thing is that the figurines made of wood and made of sticks were combined with branded goods (purses, shoes, service, belts and watches).

5. Agent Provocateur and ski slopes

The showcase of the boutique is decorated quite frankly, because the mannequins vividly demonstrate what is under the mountain of warm winter clothes, namely unusual underwear and stockings. The girls have golden skis in their hands, and puffy boots on their feet.

6. Chanel showcase in winter garden style

In the window there is a tree with iron rods and white camellia flowers. Under the branches of such a New Year's tree, there are mannequins with clothes from the new Chanel collection.

7.Dolce&Gabbana and family values

Red chairs upholstered in velvet carpets, openwork tablecloth, vases with flowers, festive table with fruits and photographs - expensive and stylish, everything that designers like.

8. Louis Vuitton and a glowing target

A luminous target against the background of silvery rhombuses seems to call for the purchase of new handbags, which are displayed as a target. The showcase is very bright and noticeable, which was the designer's idea.

9. Central Children's Store in the style of the traditional New Year

The shop window is decorated in the best traditions of the New Year with children's eyes: rosy-cheeked Santa Claus, gifts, a magic deer, bears and a large number of tin soldiers. The showcase is full of toys of impressive size and bright garlands.

10. Spring and holiday illumination

The shop window features polar bears, snowflakes and multi-colored lamps that constantly change colors. Thanks to this idea, through the window you can observe what is happening inside the store.

11. Christmas holidays at the ski resort from Ralph Lauren

Displayed in the window are mannequins wearing chic 80s-inspired clothing paired with skis and a cowboy hat. It is this attire that designers recommend for the New Year's party.

12. "Traffic" and its snow-white showcase

Located in the shop window artificial snow, created from packaging film and multi-colored lanterns. The snow-white design is associated with snow, winter and the approaching New Year!