Target

301 Veterans Parkway, Normal, IL 61761

For my last blog post, I decided to take pictures at Target. I've noticed lately that they've been paying more attention on their inside merchandising, and I am loving what they're doing with their visual displays. On the left side of this blog post is the display featured in the women's section. I love this display because it looks like a runway, and it doesn't take up an room with with outward appearance. All three of the mannequins are posing the same way and same direction, but the customer can clearly see what each of them are wearing and what brand it is based on the signage towards the back of the makeshift "runway."

On the right side of this blog post, there is a display featured in the men's section of Target. These two mannequins are also representing a specific brand. They are elevated at different levels, giving the customer two contrasting looks and poses. Similar to the women's display, the men's mannequins take up almost zero room within the men's department.

One of my favorite things about these displays is that each of them have the merchandise on the rack right next to the display. So if the customer likes what they see, all they have to do is take a few steps and grab the garment that is being shown on the mannequin. It is such a smart idea to have the merchandise more and more accessible and ready to be bought.

Dressbarn

314 South Towanda Avenue, Normal, IL 61761

Dressbarn's window looked pretty similar to a lot of the women's retail stores in the College Hills Mall area. They incorporated a simple signage of their current sale promotion, along with a few mannequins displaying their new spring merchandise. I really liked how Dressbarn labeled each side of the window "misses" and "woman." This lets the customer know what kind of sizes the carry, and what side of the store each size range is on. People really appreciate this kind of information that is provided at the very front of the store.

The window display is very simple. On the "misses" side, there was the obligatory signage along with two mannequins that displayed short cocktail dresses. On the "woman" side, there was almost the same signage along with one mannequin displaying a longer sundress. The proportion of each display is utilized, and the rhythm is very even throughout both windows.

Champs Sports

7200 Harrison Avenue, Rockford, IL 61112

Once again, I am impressed with a sporting goods store having an amazing window. The obvious focus of this display is Nike. Each mannequin is dressed in Nike merchandise, and the signage suggests the promotion of Nike shoes. I love this window because the signage is the center of attention, and the mannequins are all consistent with what they're wearing. The placement of the mannequins are symmetrical, yet some have different poses. I really love the mannequin that is sitting down because it brings my eyes closer to the ground, thus closer to noticing the shoes that they're all wearing. The proportion of the window is also perfectly utilized. They didn't waste space at all, but it's not too crowded.

H&M

7200 Harrison Avenue, Rockford, IL 61112

H&M always has the biggest windows, and they never use up all of the space. I chose the men's side of the display because I think that men's clothing gets overlooked a lot, and I'm all for the underdogs in fashion.

Despite H&M's blank spaces, they continued to appeal to the masses by using David Beckham in their signage, and also including their GQ involvement along with an advertisement of David Beckham's H&M campaign film that can be found online. The signage also provides a couple of illuminated boxes that inform the customer that all of the outfits on the mannequins were personally selected by David Beckham, thus bringing more attention to the actual outfits. This makes the customer feel like the outfit they choose has been personally approved by David Beckham. It is a great marketing plan.

Looking at the window display, the first thing I see is David Beckham (not complaining), then my eyes wander to the symmetrical mannequins placed on both sides of him. I personally don't think that the display is proportionate to the window dimensions, but their marketing strategy certainly makes up for it.

Maurices

7200 Harrison Avenue, Rockford, IL 61112

When I visited Rockford at the beginning of April, I dragged one of my friends to come take pictures with me at the mall, and I came across Maurices. I really liked their signage - it was refreshing to NOT see something that mentioned spring. "Street Style Starts Here" keeps it short and sweet, and it still gives customers an idea of what merchandise they're carrying.

Within the actual display, Maurices loves having a clean, white backdrop, and leaves it to the clothes to bring the color. With the white wall, mannequins, and walkway, it becomes the clothes' responsibility to bring the color and excitement. Their background signage is consistent with the street style theme and it matches the clothing that is displayed.

Maurices used proportion and rhythm because of their placement and elevation of the mannequins. The tennis shoes in the middle don't take away the attention from the background signage, and they happen to be some of Maurices' signature colors, which is great that they stayed true to their brand imaging.

Lane Bryant

305 Veterans Parkway, Normal, IL 61761

When I took this picture a few weeks ago, spring was just arriving. The weather was finally starting to warm up, and retail is starting to embrace spring trends. In this window, Lane Bryant brings visually appealing and simplistic displays with their minimal signage. In my opinion, "Endless Possibilities" lets customers know that their merchandise can be mixed and matched with a variety of things, thus the endless possibilities. Also, in this window, their merchandise is not on a mannequin, but on hangers (literally) hanging from the ceiling.

Within this window, Lane Bryant takes advantage of the dimensions of the window and proportionately places the mannequins and patterned window frame throughout.

Both of these window displays demonstrate proper proportion and rhythm that is very pleasing to the eye. LB did a great job at being innovative without overwhelming the customer.

LOFT

305 Veterans Parkway #200, Normal, IL 61761

LOFT at College Hills provides customers with multiple window displays. Their simplistic and elegant merchandise always shine through.

Their displays are almost perfectly symmetrical, which is very pleasing to the eye. Their use of merchandise flows between the mannequins' arrangements and works well with the signage being displayed just behind them.

Some of the mannequins are elevated above other mannequins, which also contributes to the rhythm and flow of the display. All of the merchandise is also displayed proportionately to the window.

The History of Fashion Week, Part 2

CONTINUATION OF FASHION WEEK

Press Week later became known as Fashion Week, and has been held twice a year since 1943 with the exception of September 11, 2001 (Tong 2011).

For 30 years after the first Press Week, designers held their own shows during the biannual event all around the city. In 1990, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) decided to take action when ceiling plaster fell onto runway models during a Michael Kors show. They began to search for a venue that would host the week-long event. Finally in the spring of 1994, Bryant Park in Manhattan with its white tents and invite-only status was the designated location for New York Fashion Week. The CFDA then secured financial sponsors like Mercedes-Benz, which is why Fashion Week was renamed to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

In September of 2010, as the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week became more popular, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts became the new venue because it had 30% more space than Bryant Park, which would ultimately hold more people to attend the events (Skarda, 2012).

According to Women's Wear Daily, Lincoln Center's contract wasn't renewed and is no longer the official venue for NYFW. Mercedes-Benz has also dropped out as the sole sponsor. The NYFW seems to be revamping the event, as they are looking for a new location and possibly a new sole sponsor. However, the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, remains supportive of the fashion industry by stating that "the government would triple its current investment to $15 million from $5 million," and that the "industry is more vital than ever" (Lockwood, 2015).

Badgley Mischka F/W 2013 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (Schuessler, 2013)

References:

Lockwood, L. (2015, April 13). New York fashion week leaves Lincoln Center. Women’s Wear Daily. Retrieved from http://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/new-york-fashion-week-lincoln-center-10108237/

Schuessler, B. (2013, February 13). On the runway: Badgley Mischka. Retrieved from http://www.sheknows.com/beauty-and-style/articles/984983/new-york-fashion-week-on-the-runway-badgley-mischka

Skarda, E. (2012, February 9). A brief history of New York fashion week. Time. Retrieved from http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/09/a-brief-history-of-new-york-fashion-week/

Tong, A. (2011, October 8). The first New York fashion week. Retrieved from http://www.oliviapalermo.com/the-first-new-york-fashion-week/

The History of Fashion Week, Part 1

HOW FASHION WEEK CAME TO BE

According to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, New York Fashion Week brought $900 million of revenue to the city, with over 230,000 people attending the fashion shows every year (Hyland, 2015).

New York and the entire fashion industry owe a lot to Eleanor Lambert.

Eleanor Lambert was born in small-town Indiana in 1903, went to the Art Institute of Chicago for sculpture, and moved to Queens, New York in 1925 where she became a publicist to the artists of New York. In 1932, she had her first designer client, and she had an epiphany. Why were American designers being labeled under the manufacturer's name instead of their own? If American artists could create and sell art under their own name, why couldn't American designers? Shortly after her epiphany, she had lunch with Harper's Bazaar editor, Diana Vreeland, who then told her, "Eleanor, you are such an amateur!" Nonetheless, Lambert was determined to find a way in which American designers could personally represent their designs (Collins, 2004). 

Lambert worked with designers to produce full collections because she wanted to bring fashion editors to New York to see all of the different collections. Because most of the fashion industry was in France at the time, her goal was to get European editors to attend, but that didn't happen. She then ended up paying for lifestyle editors from small American papers to attend. In 1943, the first "Press Week" was held at the Plaza Hotel, exhibiting 53 designers including Norman Norell, Lilly Daché, and Valentina - not Valentino (Tong, 2011). Since the event was exclusively held for the press (it was called "Press Week"...), every editor that attended the shows were given packets of press releases and pictures of each runway look. When Press Week ended, the fashion magazines' next issues featured American designers (Skarda, 2012). Eleanor Lambert's goal had been accomplished, thus setting a precedent for many more press/fashion weeks to come.

A 1930s Cecil Beaton portrait of Eleanor Lambert (Collins, 2004).

The catwalk during Press Week in 1943 (Tong, 2011).

Resources:

Collins, A. (2004). The lady, the list, the legacy. Vanity Fair. Retrieved from http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/04/eleanor-lambert200404

Hyland, V. (2015, February 9). New York Fashion Week brought in more revenue than the Super Bowl. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/02/nyfw-brought-in-more-revenue-than-the-super-bowl.html

Tong, A. (2011, October 8). The first New York fashion week. Retrieved from http://www.oliviapalermo.com/the-first-new-york-fashion-week/

Week 12: The End

Torrid.com

We made it! This is the last blog entry of the shopping sabbatical, and I am so relieved. For the past 12 weeks, we have become slaves to our own shopping habits (good or bad). I have learned so much about my spending patterns throughout this semester.

About an hour ago, I made a purchase online. As usual, it was the last day for my coupon! I had $75 off of $150 - too good to pass up. Torrid is probably my favorite plus size retail chain even though there isn't really that much to choose from. I can always find something that's my style at Torrid. I found this "duster," which is something I've never seen on a plus size website. I have to try it out, so I snatched it right up!

This shopping sabbatical project has really taught me to be more responsible in my spending. Before I wasn't keeping track of what I was buying, but now I am more aware of my habitual purchases. This project was probably one of the most interesting things I've had to do here at ISU.

Cheers!