The Store Window

By Sydney Kipen

Walking down the Champs Elysee, a street whose name is synonymous with fashion, the Louis Vuitton windows scream for attention. The store window is the ultimate representation of a store, forced to communicate a summary of its contents or concept in a limited amount of space. The Louis Vuitton store windows on the Champs-Elysee proudly declare their revered place in the fashion world; they are the visual representation of the epic designer, communicating a very unique display of idea not content. The Louis Vuitton store windows struck me, illustrating a very ornate, unconventional, pretentious (rightfully so) display of fashion power. Very grand, life-size zebras are playing with the purses. They are explicitly in your face, asserting that Louis Vuitton does not need to follow any type of "rule" or set directive for store window display, but can run wild with the zebras. One would not know that the windows belonged to Louis Vuitton except for the entwined LV at the bottom, a symbol that is now globally recognized. Louis Vuitton is a brand, using their store windows to sell their brand, not their product. The window display, unlike most, has nothing to do with what's inside the store, but what the store is, what the brand represents: epic, fantastic, opulent fashion. It is an ideal to be reached, a globally recognized status symbol.