RE:SO

A new 'pop-up' shop has been developed in an existing Listed Building in the Marlands shopping mall in Southampton.

The shop, which features handmade and re-worked clothing made by the Solent University students, has only recently opened, and the entire project was devised and set up by the students themselves.
Everything from the interior, to the logo of the shop was created in order to produce a shop that is visually successful and appealing to people of all ages.

The visual merchandising and design within the store resembles the style of well known High Street stores such as Urban Outfitters and All Saints, using the theme of distressed interiors and industrial aspects such as bare brick work, wooden flooring and factory-style lighting. This gives the shop the feel of 'ruggedness' and down to earth style, which also is reflected into its furnishings and VM decorative accessories.

The store sells many different things ranging from clothing, interior decorations, books, furnishings, and fashion accessories, all of which have been designed and/or-reworked by students.

The shop, also run by Solent students, allows other students in the fashion/photography/interior design faculties to use the store for projects they are undertaking. I have most recently used RE:SO to devise a photo shoot for my own photography project. Workshops are also held here and are extremely beneficial for those looking to work in the fashion industry.

In all, RE:SO is a great project that is gradually turning into a great profitable success which allows students to showcase their work for the general public to see. (all images are my own)

Primark Window Displays are Improving!

In London last week, I visited the new refurbished Primark store on Oxford St, and was rather pleasantly surprised at how good the window displays were. Over the past few years the company have been trying to improve their Visual Merchandising, and by the looks of it, they have put more effort into the creative teams in order to produce good displays. A friend of mine also told me its actually quite difficult to get into the VM team for Primark, so they must be doing something right!

The images I took show the A/W12 season (not great quality as loads of people like to sit on the window ledge!)

Christmas is Coming...

Turns out I caught the Louis Vuitton/Yayoi Kusama window display at Selfridges just in time, they started ripping it out the night I went! 
The Visual Merchandising team have now started to install the new displays, and now that November is slowly approaching, it can only mean one thing, Christmas!

I stumbled across this video from the Selfridges website, and the concept for their campaign is 'Not Your Usual Christmas' 

Take a look at the video here:

Selfridges 'Not Your Usual Christmas' video

'All For Children' UNICEF Collection for H&M

"All for Children is a unique collaboration between H&M and UNICEF. Together we work to protect the rights of some of the poorest children in the world. Today, we reach out to more than 2 million children and the adults around them in two projects in India and Bangladesh. 25% of the sales price of our annual All For Children collection and additional donations from H&M fund these projects with around USD 12.5 million." - H&M Website

I thought this display was so dynamic, and with it being for such a great cause, I had to post some images about it and to help spread the word of this campaign. 

H&M 'All For Children' Page

Yayoi Kusama Collection for Louis Vuitton

For months I have been desperate to see the Yayoi Kusama Collection for Louis Vuitton. I have seen so many images of the displays for LV on so loads of different blogs and websites and luckily I managed to see it in London this week before it was due to be taken down. 

All of the windows of Selfridges have been dedicated to this Louis Vuitton collection, including a small store inside which was absolutely amazing as I've been waiting so long to see it. 

The displays are very abstract, reflecting the design of the collection. The main theme is spots, with colours of red, black and white, and hints of yellow. The store inside also used the spot theme, incorporating this into the commercial design for the shop interior. 

Anthropologie - October 2012

Anthropologie most definitely has some of the best Visual Merchandising I have ever seen. I first came across one of their stores in Chelsea, London 2 years ago, and immediately fell in love with the design of the store. The 'Creative Team' install every element of the merchandising within the store, and the window displays are always hand made, often using recyclable materials which makes the store very ethical and sensitive to sustainable design. 

Each store around the world has different window displays each month, and unlike most companies, where monthly VM guidelines are sent out, Anthropologie VM teams are to come up with innovative displays using given materials, such as paper, cork, cardboard, wool, etc. 

Every display is incredibly tactile and full of texture and colour, reflecting the brand of the company and its apparel and interior products. 

Accessorize Window Display - October 2012

As part of my research for my Third year project at Uni, I went to London to see as many window displays as possible, and to get a general idea as to what Seasonal Trends there are for this Autumn/Winter season. 

The Accessorize window displays had to be one of my favourites, without being biased after working there for nearly 4 years, this display made a big impact due to its complex and intricate detailing. The Visual Merchandising has loads of focal points which can appeal to possible consumers. This Season, Accessorize has taken inspiration from Oriental prints, using lots of embroidery, beading and detailed patterns, along with darker colour palettes ready for the AW12 season and the Christmas period.