THE VIEW FROM THE STREET

Jean is traveling; Valerie spent several nights over the past week going back and forth to the computer store on a hard drive issue.  Computer issues probably have to be added to that classic list of stressful events: marriage, birth, moving, new job, divorce, and major illness.  On the bright side of all that backing and forthing, the weather was very forgiving (not raining or snowing), and there were lots of interesting shop windows to see along the way.  They're good enough to share on a night when we are both exhausted with other things.

All of the windows below are just steps away from Rockefeller Center.

Two of the major themes this week seems to be paper and recycling.

Cole Haan put beautifully crafted paper lobster masks and gloves on its mannequins.  The lobster on the right has carefully cut partial incisions where the paper has been lifted just a bit to represent spines.  (For some reason all of the mannequins were separated by partitions, making the work a bit difficult to fully appreciate.  Oh well.)

Nearby, Anthropologie did a series of lush natures capes created with paper cutouts.

Check out this close up of the lion's mane.  All the paper plants are backed with newspaper, but the lion's mane is upfront about its newsprint origins.

Continuing with the paper theme, Tommy Hilfiger is displaying giant pinwheels in one window (below), and probably a fifteen foot display of row upon row of smaller pinwheels in its other window (not shown).  And they all rotate!

Saks Fifth Avenue had fun with gigantic men's paper dolls vignettes.  The hat rack, a hat and chair have been cut out of the backboard, and the paper hat hangs on the paper hat rack.  Notice the tongue-in-cheek tabs on many of the items, so they can be folded and hung as they would on real paper dolls.

Just for fun, and while we're on the doll theme, let's slip in this Ermenegildo Zegna display.  The very casually dressed central mannequin is surrounded by six Mini Mes, all wearing exactly the same casual dress, right down to the colors and sneakers.  (Who knows - maybe they're made of paper mache, the essence of recycling.)

Louis Vuitton also has a paper theme, this time in the form of giant household product stickers (notice the matchbooks, hair dryers and salt and pepper shakers), plastered crazily all over the interiors and exteriors of the windows.  (Enlarge for a better look.)

Banana Republic created this vignette (and several others) out of nothing more than recycled plastic bottles and ingenious lighting.

The Bergdorf Goodman men's annex mixed quite a few metaphors in one of its displays: in a window emblazoned with the words Father's Day Haute Dog Dad, here we see more plastic bottles - this time ketchup and mustard containers squirting great arcs of red and yellow almost like fireworks, and that must be dad, playing the role of hot dog in a hilarious Claes Oldenburg-like soft sculpture.

But the ultimate in recycling is the Bergdorf window series across the street, where the latest fashions are displayed against a backdrop of fanciful antiques repurposed by Frederique Morrel, all covered in discarded tapestry work.

Back next time with more tales of adventure and derring do.  Or something like it.