You’ve walked by them, you’ve stopped and stared, and maybe they’ve lured you to come in. On November 2015, you can flip through this ode dedicated to Louis Vuitton‘s modern and spirited displays called Louis Vuitton Windows. It’s the Louis Vuitton window installations that have set the bar high for window and store design every season. Imagine having all those beautiful and artistic photographs in your living room.
Louis Vuitton Windows, Introduction by Vanessa Friedman, Published by Assouline
The edition celebrates the evolution of the Louis Vuitton Brand and how they tell stories through their storefronts. With over 168 pages, 5 gatefolds, and 150 illustrations and images, you can explore through the windows to the soul of Louis Vuitton. It’s an image archive of over five years that features LV’s holiday windows, innovative technology designs, and collaborations. To thank for these beautiful windows are Faye McLeod, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Visual Image Director since 2012, and Ansel Thompson, Senior Designer since 2010.
“The art of creating a window display fall both within a sharp sense of architecture and the skills of a stage director” – Louis Vuitton, 1925
Louis Vuitton, London, July 2014, image by WindowsWear PRO.
Louis Vuitton’s Jungle window displays serve as a reminder that once upon a time, people would travel on long, exotic voyages for months at a time.
Windows at Bergdorf Goodman is the only other brand to have a hard-bound edition similar to Louis Vuitton Windows. The window display edition is a visually appealing book that’s construct of mainly photographs and illustrations that are accompanied by captions and blocked texts. With the emergence of hand-bound limited editions, celebrities, artists, and designers such as Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford are continuously producing such oversized photographic archives celebrating themselves as a brand, as well as their artwork expression. An industry that hasn’t hit traditional media is the window display and design industry where brands are sustaining their installations that come and go as fast as New York City. This format is becoming very popular because it’s printed in large mediums and it places a sort of a prestigious standing for brands. It tells viewers that their brand is the most luxurious, prominent, and influential.
Faye McLeod
Faye Mcleod was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Having studied fashion and design, Faye relocated to London to begin her career in the world of window design at Selfridges & Co. She then moved to Topshop, from where she joined Liberty department store as visual director. Faye’s career then took her to the United States, where she worked for Limited Brands’ think tank, exploring creative solutions for the portfolio of companies within the group for 3 years. Upon returning to London she worked for Jigsaw as visual director.
In 2009, Faye joined Louis Vuitton under the direction of Severine Merle, then director of visual merchandising and creative for Louis Vuitton working on global window design, set design of fashion shows, and special projects. In 2012, she was appointed Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Visual Image Director. Faye’s studios, in both New York and Paris, are laboratories of creative talent working for Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy.
“When you make a Vuitton bag it’s beauty repetition so, no matter if you’re making a lot of them, each one has to be as perfect as the next – that’s how I treat the windows.” – Faye McLeod, 2015
“I am very grateful to all Louis Vuitton staff for supporting my artistic development and to Ansel, Faye, and their team for encouraging my art and giving it shape.” – Yayoi Kusama.
Louis Vuitton, New York, August 2012, image by WindowsWear PRO.
23,696 tentacles and approximately 50,000,000 dots were used globally for the Yayoi Kusama window displays.
Vanessa Friedman
Vanessa Friedman is the The New York Times fashion director of On The Runway. She writes about all aspects of the fashion industry, from design to business and in between. She made other publications for magazines and newspapers, such as InStyle UK, Financial Times, and Elle. Vanessa is also the author of another book Emilio Pucci (2013).
Louis Vuitton, London, June 2013, image by WindowsWear PRO.
The dinosaurs were inspired by a visit to the French Natural History Museum in Paris’s Les Jardins des Plantes.
WindowsWear PRO
WindowsWear PRO is the “Google Earth” & “Vogue Archives” of store windows & displays – used by retailers, designers, brands, creators, and universities from around the world (competitive research, inspiration, and trends from 700 brands across the world, and growing!). Our archives include 80+ years of visual displays, since 1931, and our clients include Nordstrom, Macy’s, Calvin Klein, BCBG, Fashion Institute of Technology, LIM College, and more. We also enhance and help maintain visual standards and communications for retailers and their creative teams through our website and App.
Pre-Order Louis Vuitton Windows on Assouline.
14 x 17 in  35.5 x 42 cm | 168 pages | 5 gatefolds | over 150 illustrations and hand-tipped images hand-bound limited edition in a linen clamshell case | ISBN: 9781614284505 | $845 – £550 – Â750