It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

High Life meets the festive wizards behind the museum-worthy displays in London’s world-famous shopfronts, from a dazzling Dior takeover at Harrods to a snowy dreamworld at Jo Malone

01/12/2022

Every winter, the streets of central London are rescued from the drab grey drizzle with a dash of Christmas magic. And the dazzling window displays at some of London’s best-loved stores are central to the festive atmosphere. Adorned with twinkling lights and firs laden with baubles, these windows showcase enviable artistry, craftsmanship and creative flair.

Far from just casting a warm glow over the chilly streets outside, a shop’s Christmas dressing is often the pinnacle of its year. The theme can be witty, playful or extravagant, but it will never be repetitive. Each time, it’s a challenge for the design team to reinterpret the festive season and show off the store in a brand-new light – one that will captivate imaginations and draw in visitors. And the process starts a lot earlier than you might think.

We speak to the people behind five of London’s most iconic retailers to learn how they are bringing the Christmas spirit to life this season.

Jo Malone London is dreaming of a white Christmas (Matt Richardson). Opening image: Regent Street lights (Gallery Stock)

Supersized snowflakes at Jo Malone

Winter is in full swing at the brand’s flagship Regent Street store this year. Jo Malone London has picked ‘snow day’ for its playful Christmas display. A larger-than-life snowman takes pride of place, surrounded by flitting robins, stacks of gift boxes and snowballs that light up after dark.

“Last year we took our customers to space with our ‘star bright’ Christmas, featuring gold stars and moon rock, but this year we are inviting them to come and play in the snow,” says Emma South. “Imagine a cold winter’s day with fresh snowfall, where lessons are cancelled, the office is closed, snowballs whizz and scented gifts are exchanged. And think of the fun of playing with family and friends in the cold before heading into the warmth for the Christmas festivities.

“This year, our Regent Street flagship captures a moment in the life of a snowman. The window glass and entire façade of the building is covered in white 2D snowballs, which can be seen from far away. The display is as much about captivating passersby as drawing people closer to the store.

“The hero product is our limited-edition scent, White Moss & Snowdrop. It captures the essence of the festive season – with notes of forest-fresh moss and a warm touch of golden amber, topped by a luminous burst of cardamom. Our stores are filled with the same fragrance to create a merry atmosphere.”

Fortnum’s: when Christmas plans are so wrong they’re right! (Matt Richardson)

Silly season at Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason has injected a dash of humour into its Christmas display this year with the help of a bumbling character named Geoffrey. Rather than striving for perfection, the scenes show the affable anti-hero getting every element of Christmas wrong but still managing to create seasonal joy.

“We’ve built a strong following of customers who like to visit each Christmas, and even view our displays via the web, so one of the design challenges is making the store feel new and exciting without moving too far away from the magical, traditional feel that Fortnum’s has become so well known for,” says Sallie Smith.

“This year, the theme is ‘utterly Christmas’. With social media being so central to our lives, there is more pressure than ever for us to have the perfect Christmas – the perfect gifts, the perfect feast, the perfectly decorated home. Our windows reiterate that – even if the Christmas pudding is burnt or the cat knocks the decorations off the tree – it’s OK. It’s still the time to celebrate with our loved ones.

“I was really keen to create a playful tone, so the set itself was largely made to look realistic, but Geoffrey, his cat and the mice are all in character form. They were carved from foam and completely handpainted. We also like to have our products displayed in Jermyn Street, so each of those windows has a huge, oversized mistletoe and pairs of products underneath as if they’re embracing. It’s things like tea and biscuits, cheese and wine… all the perfect pairings.”

Selfridges hasn’t forgotten the Brussels sprouts (Andrew Meredith)

Festive banqueting at Selfridges

This year, the 15 windows at Selfridges London are homing in on what’s surely our favourite thing about Christmas: the food. Mammoth mince pies sit on a chequered conveyor belt in one window, while a deluge of Brussels sprouts pours into the next.

“Christmas is our biggest event of the year. It’s bigger than anything else we do, especially when it comes to the windows,” says Morag Hickmott. “We start planning over a year in advance. Across our four stores, the team has spent more than 500 hours producing the theme over the past year, while more than 100 people worked non-stop rotating shifts over ten days to prepare the windows.

“Our theme this year is ‘Season’s Feastings’: a celebration of the power of food in bringing us together for Christmas rituals – the setting up, dressing up, merrymaking and gift-giving. Everyone looks forward to something different at Christmas, but the concept this year feels relatable to everyone. It was a challenge to fit the giant turkeys and Christmas puddings through our small doors!

“We carefully consider our Project Earth sustainability commitments throughout the window design process, in our selection of materials and in production. Year after year, we reuse elements of the displays and repurpose items – for example baubles from previous years have been recycled into tabletops in our Christmas Shop this year, giving them gold, red and silver flecks. When Christmas is over, we either reuse props and materials across our stores or donate them to charities.”

Star turns at Harvey Nichols (Joe Maher)

Disco Christmas at Harvey Nichols

Striking and futuristic, this year’s Harvey Nichols showcase has the theme of ‘Dazzle and Delight’. Angled mirrors, silver stars and disco balls help to reflect the ethereal blue light onto the sequinned trousers and metallic bags on display, with their reflection spilling out onto the streets of Knightsbridge like gold dust.

“A lot of the inspiration for our Christmas windows comes from the trends we see in fashion, although the colour scheme is chosen to complement the products featured,” explains Janet Wardley. “We work really closely with buyers across fashion, beauty and food and beverage to select new and exclusive products brought in especially for Christmas, as well as anything in keeping with our theme.

“Last year’s windows were all about colours and patterns, so this year we wanted to go all-out Christmas sparkle. Each scheme is different but, with this one, the first thing we did was work out what mirrored and reflective materials we wanted to use. We then experimented with them to discover fun and interactive ways to allow light to bounce around the windows and how best to reflect the light onto the streets.

“We have a mock window in our workshop where we can try out different elements of our scheme ahead of and during the build. Our Knightsbridge flagship has the biggest windows, so naturally everything is on a bigger scale – everything else is the same. We don’t actually get everything together in one place until we install the windows, though, so it’s really exciting to see it all come together.”

Harrods and Dior make a gingerbread house (Adrien Dirand)

A high-fashion takeover at Harrods

Celebrating almost 70 years of partnerships with Dior, Harrods has dedicated all 44 of its windows to the fashion house’s latest designs, as part of a brand takeover. ‘The Fabulous World of Dior’ theme is playfully done, turning the iconic department store into a mammoth gingerbread house, brought to life by artful animatronics.

“Harrods is legendary for going above and beyond to create enchanting festive displays for its customers,” says Alex Wells Greco. “There is almost nothing that brings families and loved ones together – and inspires so much joy during the festive season – as much as building gingerbread houses. So when Dior proposed the theme for our collaboration, it just made so much sense.

“The sheer scale of the partnership is something we haven’t ever explored before at Harrods. Our beautiful Knightsbridge home is a Grade II-listed building, and a structure with so much history that is always going to present certain design challenges. However, I’m so thrilled with the façade installation. From start to finish, every aspect has been carefully considered and designed to encapsulate each and every Dior motif, appealing to adults and children alike. The fact that gingerbread is such a close colour match to our iconic terracotta façade really made it all come together seamlessly.

“And, at the end, we aim to save most of these materials for the Dior and the Harrods archives. As this is the largest takeover we have done to date, we will definitely be preserving as many of these fabulous decorations as possible to remember this magical display and wonderful partnership for years (and Christmases) to come.”

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Discover more at ba.com

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Supersized snowflakes at Jo Malone

Silly season at Fortnum & Mason

Festive banqueting at Selfridges

Disco Christmas at Harvey Nichols

A high-fashion takeover at Harrods

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