Category: Portfolio

Ride the Rocking Horse

Since 2008 Melissa and Vivienne Westwood have continued their collaboration of plastic shoes. Reinterpreting various styles from the main line collection, for AW16 saw the launch of the Rocking Horse, inspired by the wooden heeled shoes from the Mini Crini & Harris Tweed Collections of 1987.

As part of the launch in their Flagship Store in Covent Garden, Melissa asked the Vivienne Westwood Visual Merchandising team to create an installation that would be on display throughout September and October 2016 with a party the evening before London fashion Week started. The brief was to create something fun, colourful, interactive and in line with the Vivienne Westwood brand heritage. On the first floor a chandelier of shoes, the merry-go-round, rotated in front of video screens showing catwalk footage from the Harris Tweed Show. In the basement area a carpeted and padded room printed in a collage of patterns from the Collections cosseted a giant rocking horse, with a side saddle (inspired by the image of Sara Stockbridge wearing the Rocking Horse shoes astride a saddle with riding crop) allowed you to ‘ride’ back and forth – Rocking!

Shakespeare The Tempest 

‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep’. 

As part of Selfridges Shakespeare themed store Events marking 400 years of his death, I worked alongside the in house Creative and Visual teams on a window scheme for Act II, focusing on his Dark plays. Vivienne has a great passion for Shakespeare referencing his work in the use of slogans, images across various collections throughout the years. The collection focus and inspiration came from Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood. Theatrical looks taken from the AW16 Paris Show create the 4 Characters, Prospero, Miranda, Caliban & Ariel.

With the main focus on Couture and Bridal our Davies Street Store still maintains some of it’s interior from the opening back in December 1990. Private appointments, interviews, Press Days and Magazine shoots are regularly held within these walls and these pictures will be used across our Digital, Press & Marketing for various publications.

I myself was interviewed here back in April 2016 for Online Magazine which can be read here: LS Interview

With Sale finally over, Vivienne Westwood focused the new window around the patterns from the AW16 Collections. This scheme needed to be adaptable to ensure longevity through to the next change for Christmas, so the idea of using building blocks that could be rotated and restacked to create different sets has been used. Mannequins are styled in the same patterns as displayed on the blocks along with some of the plain and more tonal patterns. Accessories rather than being confined to the mannequins or on the floor can now be displayed on the blocks to give them a more commercial presence. Incorporated into the plywood blocks are 2 light cubes, flashing the letters VW & AK taken from the Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Paris AW16 show to add an extra highlight particularly at night.

This scheme was also used as the design for the Pop Up space in Selfridges for Man Collections.

Retail Store Windows Review

The final scheme is now installed. Mirror mannequin outfits, reflection and contemplation around Global Environmental issues and thoughts about what we can do to save our planet.

Retails Store Windows Review

Pattern Print Screen

This is a backdrop screen made from the print of one of Vivienne’s dresses.

Here are some early developments of the installation for the Mirror The World SS16 theme part II. These are flat cut mirrored acrylic world maps and globes. All work is still in production with Studio XAG.

Review 1   

Review 2