Sneak Peek: Lord & Taylor Holiday Windows

So last night I had the chance to get a sneak peek at some of the holiday window displays at the Lord and Taylor Flagship store in NYC. I found myself under the street of 5th Avenue in Lord and Taylor’s basement where they have the room to create stimulating visual merchandising displays. there is room to breath, take a step back and scrutinize their handiwork.

Scott Devine, Lord & Taylor's VP of Visual Merchandising, took the time to share with a small group of bloggers some of the heritage behind the windows and to explain this year's theme.

Lord and Taylor is home to the world’s only hydraulic lift window displays and therefore able to create the display's underground before unveiling their creations to the public above ground in 4 of the street level windows. I also learned that from Mr. Devine that, “Lord and Taylor was the actually very first retailer to ever do Christmas windows for pure delight. Not to show of any product, not to sell anything. We look at it as our gift to New York City and visitors.” It is a tradition that spans over 75 years.

This year a team of 54 people are working to create the theme for the season “Sharing Joy”. “Sharing Joy” is based on the favorite holiday stories and traditions of actual customers. The stories were selected from letters received from customers or shared on Facebook. In the end, 12 stories were chosen and 3 will be displayed per window. The team at Lord and Taylor decided to take the ideas behind these stories and base them in NYC as a common thread to tie the stories together. The names of those customer's whose stories were chosen will appear in the windows and some of the local customers selected will be present at the opening to see their stories come to life for the very first time.

Some of the stories I got a chance to hear included:

A story of a man remembering when he was a little boy and he received is very first bicycle for Christmas.

The story of a family who’s aunt was a great seamstress and made all of the family matching outfits to prepare to take their annual Christmas photo.

“A story of a woman who grew up in up in the North East and moved to the South and Christmas was just never the same for her, so she just moved back to New York and she got to experience through the eyes of her children her youth again, because it was their first snowflake, their first snowball fight.”

They will also be sharing a part of the rich heritage of the windows by placing in the 2 end vestibules animated figures from of the team’s favorite windows of all time as a tribute to the past.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the windows and plan on heading down on Monday night to take a peek.

To commemorate the window unveiling this coming Monday, November 15, 2010, Lord and Taylor will be hosting a series of exciting events all day at the flagship store. If you purchase a $5 ticket to the festivities, you will get at 20% savings coupon for one item plus 15% off almost anything in the store, including cosmetics and fragrances! Plus know that you are supporting a great cause. All ticket proceeds go to the American Red Cross!

Here is a rundown of some of the events:

Noon: Meet Sarabeth and receive complimentary signed copy of her book Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.

Noon: Receive complimentary monogramming with your purchase of any fringed L&T cashmere or novelty scarf

1pm: Meet Laurent Bush and Ellen Gustafson Co-Founders of FEED Projects. They will also be signing your FEED Bag purchases.

5:30pm: The Young People’s Chorus of NYC will be performing a special song written for Lord and Taylor called Share the Joy with Emmy & Tony award winner Kristin Chenoweth.

6pm: Meet Dylan Lauren of Dylan’s Candy Bar and receive a complimentary signed copy of her book, Dylan’s Candy Bar: Unwrap your Sweet Life

6pm: Enjoy a special event with DKNY/DK intimates and enter for a chance to win a Donna Karan handbag, cosmetics case and coin purse ($1500 value)

6:30pm: Holiday Fashion presentation for the whole family

If you are not in the NYC area the entire unveiling ceremony will be live streamed here at 5:30pm on Monday.