THE HOLIDAYS ON ICE

Last week my team and I took our annual pilgrimage to NYC to see the unveiling of all the others departments stores windows besides our own we helped with. And it has become tradition here on A Day With the Mistress Borghese to give those who don't make it up, to see all the beauty, and I'm all about tradition!!!! So now till Christmas I'll sprinkle in some of my favorites I enjoyed. As always, in my opinion, Bergdorf Goodman had the hands down best windows again. The holiday windows at Bergdorf Goodman, a true New York spectacle, continued their renowned tradition of captivating imagery, extreme luxury fashion, and  fantasy. The 2013 Fifth Avenue windows, titled “Holidays on Ice” will present an unexpected proposition: What if traditional holidays throughout the year—no matter what their normal season–were re-imagined as a series of icy, snowy, frozen dioramas?

 

 

APRIL FOOL’S DAY: An icebound Art Deco iron gate opens onto a formal garden party. A mannequin dressed in Oscar de la Renta is the center of attention amid a group of animal-shaped ice topiaries. You may need to stand on your head to get the full effect, because as a surprise prank, Bergdorf’s will install this window upside down!!!

 

 

ARBOR DAY: This window will provide a split-level view of a forest clearing. Above ground, a mannequin (dressed in Alexander McQueen) rests on the icy branch of a 10-foot porcelain tree, its branches adorned with crystal leaves and flowers. Porcelain fauna populate the scene: birds, butterflies, insects, and reptiles. Below ground lie the tree’s roots, encased within a massive block of ice.

 

 

 

VALENTINE’S DAY: A luminous, cave-like boudoir, its walls encrusted with pink flowers. An icicle-laden crystal chandelier. Surrounded by a lavish, pink confectionery buffet, a mannequin (dressed in Giambattista Valli) sits with feather quill at a writing desk made from ornately carved slabs of ice.

 

 

 FOURTH OF JULY: Patriotic pageantry on ice. A full-size replica of a Colonial building facade, forged as if from a glacier, is the backdrop. A parade of characters in red, white, and blue (dressed in Rodarte and Thom Browne NY Men’s) march in the foreground. Flags, bunting, and pennants fly from above.

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN: Midnight. A masquerade party in high Gothic style. A spider web studded with Swarovski crystals. A towering haunted mansion glazed in ice. Not an ordinary mansion, but a meticulously crafted model of the Vanderbilt house which once stood on the site of Bergdorf Goodman. How's that for details? This window will play tricks with scale and will treat with a custom dress by Naeem Khan.

 

The Fifth Avenue display was rounded out with smaller shadowbox windows depicting several more holidays on a more intimate, but no less lavish, scale: Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve, and Groundhog Day. While the others depicted lovely wintery scenes which were still very well done and elegant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And check out these tidbits our connection gave us there on the tour of the windows......

 

1,000 — Linear feet, when placed end-to-end, of icicles in the  Fifth Avenue windows alone.

500 — Sweets in the Valentine’s Day window: 200 cakes, 300 cookies and 500 pieces of candy, approximately!!!

365  — Days spent preparing, brainstorming and creating the Holiday Windows, at least

 

100 — Persons involved in the creation of the Holiday Windows, from day 1 until the reveal

34 — Windows total, including Fifth Avenue

15 — Days spent installing the mannequins, props and pieces into the actual Fifth Avenue windows

 

9 — Feet is the tallest mannequin featured in a window

 

3 — Boroughs in which artisans to hand-create the holiday windows props.

 

1 — Custom Naeem Khan gown created for the 2013 Holidays on Ice Fifth Avenue Windows 

 

The Women’s Fifth Avenue windows contain twenty five birds, eight insects, two snails, and one each: bear,  llama , monkey, giraffe, elephant, horse, ground hog, squirrel, miniature poodle, frog, tortoise, lizard, komodo dragon,  oversize spider, as well as one slightly hidden mouse.

 

Now that  IS A LOT OF WORK!!!!  Great job to Dan Hoey and his team for such brilliant work and

 chic, elegant, and quite meticulous creations!