Seeing Spots

This season, spring fashion is all about the print. Stripes, polka dots, florals, paisleys – these patterns are showing up everywhere, from demure dresses to classic suiting in sophisticated silhouettes.

At specialty fashion retailer Ann Taylor, pretty black-and-white palettes are punctuated with printed details that appear not only in its spring fashions but also in its current window displays. Victor Johnson, Ann Taylor’s senior manager, visual presentation, created a national window campaign to debut this season’s graphic clothing collection. But in Manhattan, Ann Taylor shoppers will find that no two windows are alike.

“In New York, we expanded this program with site-specific installations at several stores,” he says. “So our Manhattan clients have new visual stimuli at each Ann Taylor in the city.”

The overall print theme is carried throughout each window with striped walls, damask-patterned furniture or floral rugs. Oversized gray and green polka dots cut from translucent acrylic are suspended from the ceiling among custom mannequins dressed in the season’s latest look.

“At our flagship at 60th Street and Madison Avenue, a series of custom screens have been hand-crafted from salvaged bed springs and compressed into a lyrical ‘cloud,’ ” Johnson says. “The springs echo the graphic character of the March collection.”

For an even brighter seasonal look, Johnson used a deep grass-green color in each window, including on the walls and sculptured hedges.