Harvey Nichols is a luxury retail store with a portfolio of top luxury fashion brands like Balenciaga, Valentino, Versace, Golden Goose and OffWhite to name a few. Apart from the well known luxury brands, Harvey Nichols is also known for their jaw dropping window displays that attract shoppers around the world. While working with their franchise in Kuwait on the year end season window display 2019, I teamed up with Visual Merchandising to develop concepts and art direct the window displays.
BRIEF.
Every window theme at Harvey is decided based on the collections they receive during that season. For 2019, the season collection comprised of attires that were glitter, glamor and mirror patterns. The theme Burlesque was decided by the brand marketing team after viewing the collection. I was approached to develop concepts for the look and feel of the window displays.
CHALLENGES.
After watching at least 3 burlesque themed movies and revisiting the memory of a Cabaret I went to in New York, I started pulling out inspiration images and concepts that would help my process of bringing the concepts to life. The research process took many turns, revisualising Burlesque dancers, attires, corsets, lighting, props and set designs.
Given the conservative nature of Kuwaiti population and the pole opposite theme of the season, the biggest challenge was to develop concepts that were not vulgar and overtly sexual, yet resonated with the theme of Burlesque. As the Art Director and concept developer I knew I had to visualise concepts that stayed within the guidelines, yet they met Harvey standards.
SOLUTION.
Glitter, Glamor and All That Jazz. Visualizing the the concepts through 3D renders helped me convince the VM and Marketing teams. The approval was instant, they were very happy about the idea and i proceeded with the execution. I set out to work on the props, set designs, flooring and lighting with the help of a great team of Visual Merchandisers. To complete the mood of the theme, I suggested to play jazz music while customers entered the store, which was very well appreciated by the heads of the brand marketing team. The details in the design and execution was very well received and appreciated, not only by the head of brand marketing but also the in-store staff.
MOODBOARD
Concept Renders
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
RESULT
