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Visual Edge

Stunning projects from the 2013 International Visual Competition winners

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Best in Show: Non-holiday window displays
Macy’s Herald Square, New York
“Doo Ri”
Paul Olszewski, director, windows and interior flagship marketing

“I wouldn’t guess that this is a Macy’s.” It may sound like an insult, but judge Joe Baer’s impression of VMSD’s 2013 International Visual Competition Best in Show awardee was actually high praise: “It’s simple, it’s black and white, but it’s also art and fashion. Fashion is art, art is fashion.”

The windows showcase Doo.Ri merchandise, a label by fashion designer Doo-Ri Chung, whose signature pieces include draped jersey fabric, such as a royal purple dress worn by Michelle Obama in 2011. “I was inspired by the abstract expressionist movement, which is a spontaneous and intense style not focusing on imagery, but on the actual brush strokes and use of canvas,” says Paul Olszewski, director, windows and interior flagship marketing, Macy’s Inc. (Cincinnati).

Judges were wowed at the impact of obscuring the foreground, which creates a negative space that draws eyes to mannequin vignettes in the back.

To create these six windows, Olszewski chose a SoHo loft feeling for the installation; then the design team, including Douglas Fowler, director of windows, Macy’s Herald Square, created sketches inspired by this style. A scenic painter painstakingly replicated black swathes from the design team’s sketches using a semi-gloss paint on the back of the window glass (Olszewski swears it peels off more easily than vinyl) for a look that is edgy and spontaneous, even though “every drip of paint was planned,” Olszewski says. “I consider these windows an art installation, and I consider fashion a part of it. There needs to be a relationship between the fashion and the actual props or installation.”

First Place: In-store accessories and beauty presentation
Shoppers Drug Mart, Toronto
“Beauty Boutique”
Laurent Guez, co-founder, environment and design director
Tuxedo Agency, Montreal

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Montreal-based Tuxedo Agency imagined a modern woman – rushing one day, browsing the next – for its Shoppers Drug Mart Beauty Boutique in Toronto’s affluent Bayview Village neighborhood. When the store expanded its cosmetics from 1500 to 4000 square feet, it wanted to include luxury brands like Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent without intimidating shoppers. “We found a balance between luxurious materials like titanium and [solid surface material], then worked with light and tiling for warmth,” says Tuxedo co-founder Laurent Guez.

A glowing fast-shopping skincare area is bathed in warm light and features a central test counter and digital content curated by SDM on screens above each branded display. Meanwhile, vertical luxury cosmetics display areas encourage relaxed browsing. “It’s easy to navigate with color-coding and a consistency to the environment that makes brands easy to explore. Combine that with the scale of graphics and the lighting – it’s stunning,” says Brian Davies, one of this year's judges.

First Place: In-store home goods presentation
Hershey’s Chocolate World Times Square, New York
Paul Lechleiter, chief creative officer, FRCH, Cincinnati

When you’re working with a big-name brand like Hershey’s, color becomes critical, as FRCH designers discovered when they were charged with ditching a chocolate factory motif, designing a new global prototype for the confectioner, and struggling somewhat to match the brand’s purplish brown.

When highlighting Reese’s, Kisses and Hershey’s brands at this Times Square store, “one challenge specific to New York was laying out the store so it didn’t feel like just a Reese’s store because the orange is so bold and so strong,” says Monica Gerhardt, vp, client services and strategy, FRCH. Thus, the pop of orange is off to one side, balanced by two additional focal points: an oversized Kisses plume and mirrored chandelier over a “wrap happiness” wrap bar for Hershey’s chocolate bars.

Moveable fixtures have replaced mammoth displays to give the prototype more flexibility in placement and product assortment, while a shrouded spiral staircase creates a product billboard and blocks sight lines to stock items on a mezzanine level.

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First Place: In-store apparel presentation
Macy’s City Creek, Salt Lake City
James Bellante, senior vp of visual merchandising

Judges honed in on the denim-inspired, industrial aesthetic of displays featuring Guess and Buffalo in Macy’s new take on distinguishing its brands in downtown Salt Lake City. Space restrictions caused the department store to rethink its usual take: negotiating shop concepts with each brand. “With many different brands of denim in a smaller footprint, we decided to design fixtures, wall decor, forms and signage in a more generic manner,” says James Bellante, senior vp of visual merchandising, Macy’s. To reflect the city’s casual sensibilities, Bellante’s team paired rustic wood elements with playful dimensional letters to appeal to millennial shoppers.

The denim area meshes with the store’s sleek, pared-down aesthetic, bolstered by a grid wall à la Dutch painter Piet Mondrian – a new signature design element for Macy’s that appears in many of its newest stores and redesigns. “They’ve really cleaned things up,” says judge Jay Kratz, senior design manager, Luxottica (Cincinnati). “The fixturing system and storytelling elements are strong, and I love the regional references like rock props and driftwood.”

This project was submitted by FRCH (Cincinnati), which collaborated on architectural design for the presentation.

Honorable Mentions:

In-store apparel presentation
Saks Fifth Avenue, New York
“Fashion Week Spring”
Carole McKibben, visual manager

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In-Store Accessories and Beauty Presentation
Project Skin MD, Vancouver
Laurent Guez, Tuxedo Agency

In-store home goods presentation
Story, New York
“Story: A permanent pop-up store”
Darcy Bisker, visual liaison
ColorSpace Designs, Deep River, Conn.

In-store storewide promotions
Macy’s Herald Square, New York
“Brasil”
Paul Olszewski, director, windows and interior flagship marketing

In-store storewide promotions
Macy’s State Street, Chicago
“Glamorama”
Jon Jones, visual director

Non-holiday window displays
G by Guess, Culver City, Calif.
“Valentine’s 2012”
Mark Kendrick, director of visual merchandising

Non-holiday window displays
Holt Renfrew Bloor Street W., Toronto
“Pucker Up”
Tracey Peters, senior manager, national visual

Non-holiday window displays
Macy’s Herald Square, New York
“Hot List”
Paul Olszewski, director, windows and interior flagship marketing

Holiday window displays
The Mailbox, Birmingham, England
“Christmas Countdown Window”
Samuel Langley-Swain,  Green Room, Birmingham, England

Special thanks to our judges:

  • Joe Baer, owner, ZenGenius, Columbus, Ohio
  • Brian Davies, associate professor, University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), Cincinnati
  • Jay Kratz, senior design manager, Luxottica, Cincinnati
  • Mari Miura, interior design director, FRCH, Cincinnati

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