NY, NY (58th Street)
More turn-of-the-century with animals theming in the windows along 58th Street, the ending window with lots of great old time photographs.
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NY, NY (5th Ave)
The late Alexander McQueen would have relished this theme, and not only because one of the dresses that still bear his iconic name (under the direction of Sarah Burton) from the Spring 2012 feature in one of the window this holiday season.

The window that features McQueen’s dress places a white mannequin – a human/mermaid hybrid, dressed in a white-feathered garment. Land and ocean are met amid the woman in the center in a scene of disarray, but deliberately so, as the mosaicked sea creatures surround the triumph of the image: an angelic woman surrounded by the clutter but beauty in the underwater realms of the world.

Mirroring the holiday craze and chaos, but luxurious nature of Fifth Avenue, the windows created by David Hoey and Shane Ruth, bring the concrete jungle of New York back to the nature and wilderness of the world.
—Kate Racovolis

“Carnival of the Animals” is the theme for this year’s windows along 5th Ave at the women’s side of Bergdorf Goodman. Very lush with hundreds/thousands of intricate details. You could easily spend hours dissecting them (the windows, not the animals). I previously posted a sneak preview here. For more detailed information, the official BG press release follows the gallery.
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OFFICIAL BG PRESS RELEASE
The holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman, a true New York holiday spectacle, continue their well-known tradition of high fantasy, dramatic surprises, extraordinary fashion, and great storytelling. The 2011 windows, entitled “Carnival of the Animals,” take their inspiration from diverse settings reimagined in various materials… and the animals that dwell there. David Hoey, Senior Director of Visual Presentation, and team devote an entire year to the production of the holiday windows. They will remain on display through January 3, 2012.

Starting from 57th Street, each of the five main Fifth Avenue windows examines the theme from a different perspective:
Built around a vintage collection of mixed-metal birds and jungle animals, “The Brass Menagerie” is set in a stylized tropical forest of metal and mirror and glimmers with leafy foliage of brass and steel. Within this forest is a fantasy recording studio, with vintage microphones and a brass “primate” jazz combo. A giant brass birdcage houses a surprise tenant, and the floor is covered several inches deep with a secret quantity of copper pennies. For this window, a special dress was created by Naeem Khan.

“Breaking the Ice” invites viewers to a mid-afternoon arctic garden party whose guests include “couture plush” animals such as polar bears, a moose, an arctic mountain goat, a seal, and a of pair wolves. All the animals have been upholstered in luxe white textiles and appliquéd with icy crystals, beads, and sequins. A Baccarat chandelier adds luster. The party hostess is the focus of attention in her specially designed dress and one-of-a-kind cape, all by J. Mendel.

Completely encrusted with hand-cut Italian mosaic tile, this intensely blue window is truly an undersea fantasy. A single mannequin, in a seashell dress from the Alexander McQueen Spring 2012 collection, appears to be floating amid a massive collection of mosaic sea creatures. Everything is highly patterned, with swirling textures and oceanic colors. “Testing the Waters” is quite the aquatic triumph as its production was 10 months in the making and is the most labor-intensive single window display in Bergdorf Goodman history.
“Teacher’s Pets” takes viewers inside a 3-dimensional paper classroom filled with black and white paper animals, including a life-sized paper zebra, ostrich, panda bear, aardvark, white peacock, and more. As the “students” pose within a cascade of zoological textbooks, the teacher – dressed in a black and white lace Marchesa gown – presides over the paper bestiary. Noted New York calligrapher, Bernard Maisner, provided hand-lettered labels, in Latin, for all the animals.

In the final window, “Artists and Models,” a diverse collection of wood and leather folk-art animals from all continents gathers together. The setting is a sculptor’s studio out of a folk tale, with an enormous assemblage of wooden creatures. A mannequin, dressed in a mélange of designers, assumes the role of sculptor, assisted by several antique wooden artists’ models and by a quartet of antic leather monkeys.

ABOUT BERGDORF GOODMAN
Bergdorf Goodman, founded by master tailors Edwin Goodman and Herman Bergdorf, is located on the corner of New York’s Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, the former site of the Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion. Bergdorf Goodman: The pinnacle of style, service, and imagination, since 1901.
For more information, contact:
Jessica Gioia-Zotts, 646.735.5332 Jessica_Gioia-Zotts(at)bergdorfgoodman(dot)com

One Up Close (mouse over to zoom)

NY, NY (58th Ave)
A bit of a 19th Century horses theme in the Bergdorf windows along 57th Street.
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NY, NY (5th Avenue & 58th Street/Midtown)
Definitely visit the Holiday Mens window displays at Bergdorf Goodman Mens, brought to you by Shane Ruth. The animal mannequins are very fun and endearing. There is a wolf playing penguin golf, a lion pumping iron, a wolf getting his suit tailored, a barber bear shaving a steer, and finally, the musical stylings by a cardinal lounge singer (appearing nightly). Bring the kids.They will get a big kick out of them.
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NY, NY (5th Ave/Midtown)
There are two iconic events each year here in Manhattan that herald in the holiday season. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, and the Bergdorf Goodman holiday window displays. Both the tree and the windows are in their “preparation” stage, meaning that we New Yorkers are in our “waiting” stage, but last night, thanks to the graciousness of Mr David Hoey and the muscle of Mr Shane Ruth, the tarps were pulled aside and I was granted a peek at four of the upcoming Bergdorf beauties—thousands of stunning mirrored mosaic tiles, gorgeous metal workings, incredible yarn art, and intricate paper sculptures, all creating exquisite fantasy worlds.

11:00pm on a school night, and the two were still hard at work. Shane was the more relaxed of the two now that his Mens windows across the street were complete and open to the public (which I will be posting tomorrow). David, on the other hand, was still in overdrive with the Womens. But, as you can ascertain from these photos, the long journey to unveiling (18 months of painstaking, hand-crafted detail for some of these windows) is, thankfully for the waiting masses, right around the corner. Always the perfectionist, these windows are an obsession for Mr Hoey, and, after catching a glimpse of what the corner holds in store, it is guaranteed that fans and passers-by alike will not be disappointed by what his fervor and passion will be bringing forth.

This is just a glimpse to whet your appetite. Stay tuned for a proper gallery showing along with credits and stories once the windows are fully unveiled. Better yet, come see them in person. Enjoy!
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