HISTORY's Moment in Media: A New Tradition Is Born – The Advent of the Department Store Holiday Windows

Back then Macy39s filled several stores on 14th Street in Manhattan and the industrial revolution had made it possible for shopkeepers to install huge windows on their storefronts to show off their goods About a decade earlier Macy had started bringing Santa Claus into his store during the holiday season But in 1874 for the first time Macy put special seasonal displays in the windows to delight shoppers and entice them into his store a collection of dolls posed in scenes from Uncle Tom39s Cabin and a new tradition was bornAs early as 1883 according to some reports Macy39s took a leap forward with a steampowered Christmas window display that included characters that moved along a track And when the department store moved to what would become its iconic flagship on Herald Square in 1902 the tradition of Christmas windows moved there tooBut soon enough other New York department stores were getting in on the gameIn 1914 Saks Fifth Avenue held the first Christmas window unveiling event a signal step in turning the stores39 holiday windows into the competitive displays they would become And when Lord ampamp Taylor opened its Fifth Avenue headquarters that year the department store built hydraulic lifts for its streetlevel windows so that the displays could be constructed out of sight and then lifted into place only when they were ready to be seenBut Lord ampamp Taylor really made holidaywindow history during the DepressionFirst in 1937 LampampT became the first store to do what might seem unthinkable create Christmasseason windows that featured no merchandise at all This was under the guidance of President Dorothy Shaver the first woman to lead a major retailer and who led the store39s successful designforward expansion through the middle of the century and visual designer James Albert Bliss who over the years dreamed up memorable window displays for several big department stores Their seasonal decorative displays featured winter landscapes and ringing bells and were so popular they were reprised each year till 1941And it was in the next year 1938 that Lord ampamp Taylor was credited with creating the first quotanimatedquot window displays When the windows were unveiled that year it was an unseasonably warm November Bliss39s design team used fans to blow quotsnowquot through the display to create a blizzard and thus movement became part of the Christmas window traditionOf course New York isn39t the only city with a tradition of department store Christmas windows In Boston Jordan Marsh and Filene39s competed to outdo each other In Chicago Marshall Field39s has a holidaywindow tradition that stretches back to 1897 The store is now a Macy39s to the dismay of most Chicagoans the windows live on In Philadelphia Wanamaker39s turned its Grand Court atrium into an extravagant display of its own each winter for decades in the middle of the 20th century That store too is now a Macy39s they still put on a holiday light show in the atriumAnd in New York holiday windows adapted with the times Sometimes highprofile artists got involved Salvador Dalamp237 did Christmas windows for Bonwit Teller in 1939 it ended badly Around the turn of the 20th century Barneys became famous for its highconcept cheeky windows designed by Simon Doonan that tweaked celebritiesBut more recently as department stores have played a reduced role in the culture they39ve embraced celebrities using their influence to help bring attention to the windows A few weeks ago Jennifer Lawrence was in Manhattan to kick off the huge annual light show and window display at Saks one of four major New York City department stores Bloomingdale39s Bergdorf Goodman and of course Macy39s are the others where Mr Macy39s old tradition is still going strongClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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HISTORY's Moment in Media: A New Tradition Is Born – The Advent of the Department Store Holiday Windows

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HISTORY's Moment in Media: A New Tradition Is Born – The Advent of the Department Store Holiday Windows

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