Au Naturel

From resort wear to breezy summer skirts and dresses, fashion in the three hottest months of the year is all about staying cool. And at women’s apparel retailer Ann Taylor, window displays heat up with summer whites and warm hues in this season’s latest styles. (Read: the coveted day dress!)

To showcase the retailer’s wares to Manhattanites and beyond, Victor Johnson, Ann Taylor’s senior manager, visual presentation, looked to the coastline for natural, earthy elements and hints of deep-sea blue.

Forget the usual beach suspects: shells, creatures, sand, palms. Johnson chose a more exotic milieu, with large pieces of tropical driftwood twisting upward from the floor or entwined and resting on a table. Yucca, coconut and natural vines are displayed in various sculptural combinations and are often set against a backdrop of wood disc curtains.

“The variety of neutral woods provides a great transitional canvas for fashion ranging from Mother’s Day refinement, to high-summer casual,” Johnson says. And the disc curtains show up elsewhere besides the Big Apple. Johnson notes they are part of a companywide window rollout that reaches far beyond the retailer’s New York flagships.

At the Ann Taylor store at 3rd Avenue and 52nd Street in Manhattan, mannequins clad in shell-colored and white outfits are arranged on spiraling staircases, wooden ladders and steps that jut from the wall, befitting a scene from a beach house gathering. And at the 43rd and Madison store, a bit of blue in the form of oversized polka dots accents the window’s neutral backdrop.

Fabrication and Installation Assistance: Supercreator LLC, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Photography: Kitty Cheung, New York and Bryan Ellingson, Brooklyn, N.Y.