Chirstmas holiday windows beckon Dubaiites

Glorious, glittering and full of glamour - that is what the holiday season is all about. There is nothing that depicts this as grandly as Bergdorf Goodman's "Holiday Windows" in New York.

For over a century this New York 5th Avenue department store has set the style barometer for Holiday Windows. With over 100 craftsmen working on the windows, it takes 11 months and 3,500 work hours to produce Bergdorf's year-ending display. Since the season probably accounts for 25 per cent of their sales in the holiday month, the time, effort and money are a sound investment. This is the time of the year when retail is at its peak.

The tradition of the holiday window may seem old-fashioned yet it has never been a more important marketing tool. Online retail can never come up with the digital version the "Holiday Window" that will be able to conjure up those fuzzy feel-good emotions. Added to this economic uncertainty due to falling oil prices and unstable interest rates, has meant that purse strings are tighter than usual; a holiday window reminds the consumer that this is the season to indulge.

The Harvey Nichol's take on the "Brilliant Holiday" window went up on November 12 and will be up till December 26. "The windows are created to be an integral part of the overall shopping experience. They are the first point of contact between us and our customers and they showcase not only the season but are also the Harvey Nichol's Dubai personality," says Matteo Magnanini, general manager of Creative Services, Retail Al Tayer Group. Their Swarovski-themed windows includes Michael Jackson's famous white crystal-studded glove. And Magnanini has observed many passersby taking selfies against their eye-catching backdrop. Social media has ensured that the Holiday Window lives on through the digital age.

With Nadja Swarovski attending the unveiling of the windows, these windows received international media attention. Harvey Nichol's is not the only store to host swish soirees for their windows. The Tiffany Holiday Window at The Dubai Mall celebrates the art of gifting, they created a magical winter wonderland and also hosted a special unveiling for select media and clients. "This year we're celebrating Tiffany's heritage of luxury in a winter wonderland, as depicted in miniature theatres of the 19th century," said Richard Moore, vice-president of creative visual merchandising, Tiffany. "We've used a palette of Tiffany Blue and winter white, the colours of our famous blue box and satin ribbon, which appear in the windows as the ultimate gift and symbol of style the world over." Their windows will be on display till Januray 9.

And it is not only luxury brands that pull out all the stops for their Holiday Windows. Walk past Zara, Marks & Spencer and Sephora and you will see their take on the "Holiday Window". Be it luxury, masstige or fast fashion you can believe that spending a few hundred thousand dirhams on these windows is a normal budget. Cosmetics and Beauty specialty store, Sephora, prefer to call its windows "festive" and Ghada Khoury, head of marketing at Sephora Middle East, says, "Festive Windows are about story telling and delighting the customer both inside and outside the store. Sephora is a gifting destination with products for everyone." Which explains Sephora's gifting themed windows. The planning of Sephora's festive windows begins in March (that is later than most other store's Harvey Nichol's will begin thinking of its design for the holiday season in Januray). The Holiday Window in Dubai needs a team of 20 people to complete. And though from concept to completion it takes countless hours of preparation, the actual window is put up over night. The Holiday Window is the retail version of fine art at its best."

And whether you call it a festive, holiday or even a Christmas window, there is no better advertisement for a retail company in this season than its own window.

This year Bergdorf Goodman's theme is "Brilliant Holiday" as they have teamed up with Swarovski. The Austrian company known for their cutting edge crystals is celebrating its 120th anniversary. Swarovski have also worked with Hong Kong's Lane Crawford and Dubai's Harvey Nichols. Their choice of Dubai reiterates the importance of the city to luxury retail. The Middle East has the highest global spending per capita at around $2,000. Dubai is as important to fashion today as New York, Milan or London, and the holiday windows you will see in city's malls are an ode to this.

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