Patrick Lehman

Patrick Lehman, vp, visual presentation for Express (Columbus, Ohio), recalls being drawn to the “carnival spirit” of world's fairs, small-town attractions and Disney World, where he visited as a child with his family. “A lot of that tourist pageantry seems campy now, but it was beautiful to me then,” he says. “I loved the idea of creating a controlled environment and getting paid for it.”

Years later, Lehman began his career in retail on the selling floor at Charivari, a cutting-edge specialty store in Manhattan. He held apprenticeships with department store display crews and freelanced for Armani, Zegna, Cartier and Henri Bendel before joining Calvin Klein, where he worked first as a jeans presentation specialist and then as visual director of all divisions.

Lehman joined Limited Brand's Express division in 1997 as visual director. In 2000, he was named vp, and today oversees visual presentation for more than 1000 Express men's, women's and dual-gender stores in the U.S.

Together with Nordstrom's Jonathan Lander, Lehman will discuss the power of visual merchandising at VM+SD's International Retail Design Conference in Miami Beach, Sept. 17-19, 2003.

I freelanced for a designer doing windows at North Beach Leather on Madison Avenue. It was a fun crew and the early 80s was a great time for display. You could make fun of the customer and make light political comment.

Certainly the prevalence of large-scale printing has flattened out store display literally and figuratively, but I think that will run its course. Display demands surprise, the new thing every few years, and as techniques become overused, people want to differentiate and move on.

Technology should force us to go beyond “fabulous displays” and create effective displays that sell more product and more related items, create longer dwell times, etc. We as presenters have to embrace technology to validate what we do, and quantify the value we bring to the business.

I'm glad to be part of such an edgy yet democratically priced brand. Our customers use Express for self-invention, to help them create their sense of themselves, and their enthusiasm is inspiring to me. That's what I think about when we concept windows: “Let's blow the socks off little future display people who are 8 years old in Peoria.”

Payroll for more dedicated and trained visual staff. Visual inventiveness, creativity and commitment to standards are a much more productive use of capital than some prop that ends up in a landfill.

My partner and I have hosted a Dachshund Octoberfest for 12 years in New York's Washington Square Park. Up to 600 dachshunds and their fanciers come to play and frolic and sing “The Dachs Song” in unison.

Pointy, mod Italian boots and a beach house in Cherry Grove, Fire Island.

Pistachio ice cream.

Lorenzo de Medici or Baron Haussmann, maybe. They certainly had the budgets to work with, didn't they?