From New York to London to Paris, Musement takes a look at six incredible Christmas window displays to keep an eye out for this holiday season.
The trees are starting to go up, and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at department stores all over the world. The annual tradition of holiday-themed window displays began in the late 19th century in New York City and its popularity has spread to other countries throughout the years. Whether you want to finish your holiday shopping or just admire the artistry, be sure to stop by one of these six iconic department stores for a little Christmas cheer.
1. Macy’s, New York
Macy’s was, by all accounts, the first major department store to dress up their windows for the holidays. Since 1874, they’ve been delighting passersby with their colorful displays at their flagship store in New York. The Herald Square location will be unveiling their 2019 presentation, “Believe in the Wonder,” on November 21 at 6:00 p.m. The six ground-floor windows on Broadway will tell the story of a girl who dreams of being Santa Claus after seeing him in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year’s display will be interactive, allowing visitors to step inside the girl’s dream world and experience the magic.
2. Selfridges, London
Selfridges in London got an early start to the holiday season. Their colorful Christmas windows are already on display at the Oxford Street store. The 2019 theme, “A Christmas for Modern Times,” gives a modern twist to holiday traditions using reinterpreted elements of popular children’s stories. All thirteen windows were created by Selfridge’s in-house team of artisans in collaboration with world-famous designers like Simone Rocha, Nicole Benisti and Christian Siriano.
3. Galleries Lafayette
This holiday season, you’ll want to “bee” sure to stop by the Galleries Lafayette location on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. Their creative team is hard at work putting the final touches on their bumble-bee-themed windows. The store’s eleven windows will be abuzz with the whole hive getting ready for the queen’s Christmas banquet. Visitors will see the worker bees preparing the food, putting up lights, and helping the queen dress for the occasion. After you’ve admired the windows, step inside to see the Christmas tree, which will also depict the bee theme. The tree is covered in honey-colored lights and topped with the queen herself, overlooking her workers.
4. Le Bon Marche, Paris
Across town, in the seventh arrondissement, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche is also getting ready to reveal their annual holiday window display. This upscale department store was the first in the city to decorate its windows for the Christmas season. Since 1893, shoppers have stopped by the Rue de Sèvres to admire the creativity that perfectly captures the magic of the holidays. This year, the windows, as well as the alleys around the store, will be turned into an enchanted forest. The reveal takes place at 5:00 p.m. on the 6th of November.
5. Brown Thomas, Dublin
A stroll down Grafton Street will take you past Brown Thomas’s flagship store in Dublin. Their 2019 Christmas theme, “All Aboard,” pays tribute to the golden age of train travel. Each window is decorated as a separate carriage with scenes from centuries past. Costumes from Irish-American actress Maureen O’Hara and dresses from celebrated designer Eamon McGill add glitz and glamour to the display.
6.KaDeWe, Berlin
This iconic department store in Berlin, which dates back to 1907, takes Christmas very seriously, with an entire program that includes Santa Claus cameos, piano music and other specially themed events. The store goes all out for its Christmas windows, which, for the last two years, have included specially designed elves that they took all over the world to station themselves in various cities like Milan, Copenhagen and Bangkok. How many Christmas helpers can you spot?
I love looking at the windows during the holidays. I lived in Dublin for 3 years and can remember the window displays. One winter was the swans the legend of the kids turned into swans. It was a lovely piece.
That sounds very magical!