In an effort to better understand the art of visual display and window dressing the Winter 2015 Day group and I took to the malls of downtown Montreal.
Our journey started underground in Les Cours Mont-Royal going through all four floors. Then followed through to Carrefour Industrielle Alliance where we took our time examining the creative forces at work inside and outside Simons. Next stop was Place Montreal Trust through to the Eaton Center, where once finished we took a break for lunch since they have over 30 restaurants to choose from.
After lunch it was on through Les Ailes de la Mode to visit Forever 21. Next, Les Promenades de la Cathédrale where we had a wonderfully informative visit in a custom design shop called L’Autre Couture. Then on to a fun trip on the escalators through The Bay.
Once finished at The Bay we hit the streets. Continuing our observations, we walked down St. Catherine street to De La Montagne where we came to the iconic windows at Ogilvy’s. We then headed up De La Montagne to view Anthropologie’s windows being installed and ended with our last set of iconic windows provided by Holt Renfrew. Needless to say the students and I got our required exercise for the day!
We saw many good and not-so-good examples of windows. But overall our observations have taught us how to be better and more creative Visual Display Artists.
Now the students are hard at work presenting their conclusions and a project on what they would change from the least effective windows, armed of course with their new ideas.
Amanda Lemay
(Visual Display Instructor – Interior Decoration and Visual Display Program)