A New York Holiday

Either you love it or you hate it – the Big Apple, that is. As a lifelong New Yorker who has seen much of the world, I clearly love New York and all it has to offer. Simply stated, there’s no place like it. It’s especially wonderful this time of year when the holiday spirit is in full bloom at every turn. And if your passion is visual merchandising, NYC in December is the Holy Grail – it’s retail’s biggest stage at the most important time of the year.

Wherever you hang your visual merchandising or store design hat, New York is where you want to be as December rolls around. It’s a retail designer’s opportunity to see the holiday windows, seasonal trim, new store build-outs, and of course, attend the annual PAVE Gala. As a Manhattanite, I don’t even have to cross a river or use my metro card to take in the wondrous work created by the industry’s best: brushstrokes of brilliance splashed across the windowed canvases of retail’s holiday theater. And to be sure, 2015’s holiday window extravaganza did justice to its storied and, at times, legendary history.

From Bloomingdale’s to Bergdorf’s, uptown to downtown, the windows sizzled with pizzazz. And it wasn’t just the windows: Building façades also sparkled in holiday splendor. When Saks Fifth Avenue unveiled their windows, they heralded the season, illuminating the renowned retail corridor with dazzling fireworks and a kinetic light show projected on their iconic façade. When the curtains were lifted, the windows took an excited throng of tourists and locals alike on a tour of “The Winter Wonders of the World,” from “The Icy Eiffel Tower,” to “The Great Wintery Wall of China,” “The Ice Cold Coliseum,” “The Sub-Zero Sphinx,” and “The Frosty Taj Mahal.”

Lord and Taylor’s windows sparkled under a celebratory awning of holiday greenery and shimmering lights. And then the windows warmed our hearts with Christmas memories of gingerbread houses and delectable sweet shops.

In collaboration with Swarovski, Bergdorf Goodman did not disappoint: Celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Austrian-based lead glass/fashion company, each window was immersed in thousands of sparkling crystals. The bank of holiday cheer was titled “A Brilliant Holiday,” featuring bedazzling images, including a crystal embellished suit of armor in a window titled “Crown Jewels”; the clandestine crystal studded trappings of a fortune teller’s abode in a windowed titled “Crystal Ball”; and an underwater palace with a crystallized Neptune sitting on his throne in “Treasures.”

And to the delight of children of all ages, Macy’s featured “It’s The Great Window Unveiling Charlie Brown.” To honor the 50th anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang, took center stage on Broadway in Macy’s heralded windows.

Bloomingdale’s tickled the senses with florals and faceted mirrored sculptures. Windows included a sparkling gold reindeer whose bell-adorned antlers jingled with sounds of the season, as an oversized Christmas bear enjoyed his holiday sweets nearby.

Perhaps my favorite holiday moment, however, was in Bryant Park where a pop-up “Holiday Village” featured small shops offering everything from olive wood salad bowls to hand-painted jewelry boxes. Nestled around the park’s skating rink with the Empire State Building illuminated in seasonal splendor as a backdrop, this was a true portrait of a holiday in New York.

Eric Feigenbaum is a recognized leader in the visual merchandising and store design industries with both domestic and international design experience.  He served as corporate director of visual merchandising for Stern’s Department Store, a division of Federated Department Stores, from 1986 to 1995. After Stern’s, he assumed the position of director of visual merchandising for WalkerGroup/CNI, an architectural design firm in New York City. Feigenbaum was also an adjunct professor of Store Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and formerly served as the chair of the Visual Merchandising Department at LIM College (New York) from 2000 to 2015. In addition to being the Editorial Advisor/New York Editor of VMSD magazine, Eric is also a founding member of PAVE (A Partnership for Planning and Visual Education). Currently, he is also president and director of creative services for his own retail design company, Embrace Design.