Lord & Taylor Holiday Window Champions!

During the holidays, Fifth Avenue transforms into a mystical winter wonderland.  Every store competes with the next to have the most spectacular holiday window displays.   Attention is usually focused on Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co, and Cartier.  Venture slight further south, however, to 39^th street and you will be rewarded with my favorite window display of the year – Lord & Taylor.

As a store, Lord & Taylor is full of New York firsts.  Of the stores currently on Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor was the first.  Founded in 1826, it’s actually the longest continually operating store in NYC!  It will be celebrating is 100^th year at it’s Fifth Avenue location in 2014. It was also the first major store on Fifth Avenue to name a woman (Dorothy Shaver) president.  She brought in many innovative retail concepts, some of which may seem outdated today, but during her tenure made sales rise.  One seemingly outdated marketing ploy was to have two sets of elevators in the store, one set operated by beautiful female redheads, and one set operated by beautiful female brunettes, each of whom had their hair and makeup done at the beginning of the day at the Lord & Taylor salon.  These lovely elevator ladies were the talk of the town.

Lord & Taylor has a first that is very important for the holiday season.  It was the very first Fifth Avenue store to present Christmas windows that feature purely holiday displays and not merchandise.  Walk along Saks, you’ll drool over the Oscar de la Renta gown shimmering beautifully in a winter wonderland.  Bergdorf Goodman will have a Loro Piana cape making a splash at a holiday party beckoning you to buy it.  While some of these stores have a few dresses designed specifically for their holiday windows, most of the merchandise you see can be bought in the store.  Saks Fifth Avenue even posts on their windows on which floor you can find each dress/bag/accessory.  Lord & Taylor’s are all pure holiday magic.

Today’s Lord & Taylor’s window displays are actually made in a workshop underneath the Fifth Avenue store and are brought  up to street level when it’s time for them to be revealed!  Currently, the windows are the only in the city that operate purely on hydraulics.   This year’s displays celebrate New York City and Christmases of yesteryear.  There are retro scenes of Lord & Taylor shoppers, men being fitted for suits, spectacular Christmas parties with waltzing couples, and a delicious New York Christmas feast worthy of the final scene of "A Christmas Carol."  My very favorite figuring in the windows is a twirling girl in a pink dress.  I think she reminds me of my last opera costume that I got to wear, but watching this figurine twirl in the window filled me with happiness.

The detailed holiday windows are incredible visual displays worthy of any Broadway or Metropolitan Opera set.  The cherry on top, and what really makes the window displays soar, is the music accompanying the.  Lord & Taylor plays symphonic holiday happiness outside their stores to delight shoppers admiring their windows.  If you need to get into the Christmas spirit, get thee to Lord & Taylor.  You won’t have merchandise thrown in your face, you’ll have sparkly holiday displays celebrating wonderful New York Christmases past, and rich full music to help you celebrate Christmas present.  Lord & Taylor, I declare you the holiday window display winner of 2013!