Throwback: The Paper World of Mrs. John L Strong

"This Mrs. Lives in a World of Paper" was the theme for a  Mrs. John L Strong window at their Madison Ave. flagship a few years ago. Creating a cardboard and craft paper environment, various objects were wrapped and created using paper including Mrs. Strong's  extravagant dress and lustrous hair.

D. Porthault: His and Hers

 What better way to show the luxurious, hand silk screened linens of D. Porthault than within Geoff's hand painted display of a well appointed home! Like birds of a fine feather, the patterns in the fabrics and Geoff's light and loose painting flock together. So if you happen to fly by the D. Porthault flagship on Mad ave by chance, we hope you will alight to take a glance.

Midnight in the garden of Versailles

The holidays bring their frosty touch to the gardens of Versailles, I mean, D Porthault...  Carefully clipped boxwood topiaries dusted with snow and glowing lights below a hand painted midnight sky create a wintry atmosphere around the cherub sculpture centerpiece bedecked in the latest of D. Porthault's luxurious linens.  The side windows  also carried the frosty theme.

The interior dining table featuring linens embroidered with silver and gold thread along with D Porthault's signature monogram candles.

Off the Grid

Armani's inspiration for these windows was a rotating grid. Of course it wouldn't be Armani without a  chic twist. The shallow grid was made of a thin wooden substrate  mitered to fit perfectly at the corners and upholstered in fine black satin and attached to a glowing light-box background, the effect being an aura of luxury that also reflects the details and crisp tailoring seen in their collection. Shone below are some images showing the subtle differences from window to window as some without the mannequins.

Spot On!

For the Lexington Ave facade of Bloomingdale's, the windows were freshly done to herald the arrival of Giorgio Armani himself, his first appearance in the US in years.  The full length of the windows at Bloomingdale's were masked in black vinyl to create large circular openings through which could be viewed the  women's collection against a background of black and white checkerboard, Bloomingdale's signature pattern.

From across the street there were a total of 6 portholes side by side, the effect of which you can see in an example below.

D. Porthault: A French botanical moment

Inspired by the gardens of France, luxury french linen maker D. Porthault's current window on Park Avenue features 18th century style statuary,  swathed in floral motif pillows and sheets in front of an impressionistic, lavender hued landscape.

The interior was also restyled to reflect the botanical theme.

Throwback: Less is More, profiling Skin care products

Elizabeth Arden's corporate headquarters in the 80's were in a building called Park Avenue Plaza. There were three large showcases in their lobby that Geoff designed and installed on a regular basis. Below are a couple examples of a more minimalist approach to showcasing various skin care products. 

 In the first shot, Geoff lined the background with blank newsprint plainly pinned to the wall. Across this plane of 'plainess', were pinned a repeating pattern of a portrait of Gary Cooper (cut out of Interview Magazines) and a hand written slogan in step with Father's Day.

In this variation of a minimalist stripey theme, Geoff created large painted canvases with tone-on-tone wide horizontal stripes and one bold bright pink stripe behind plaster cast lettering (a display standard of the day) to showcase the product.

Throwback: Imperial Fashion

Back when shoulder padded women's blazers were all the rage (i.e. the eighties), Beltrami's fashions were no exception. They had a giant and fancy store on 55th st. and 5th Ave and Geoff did the windows. For that year's 'travel collection' Geoff recreated a slice of China using 2 giant Foo dog statues and his signature hand painted background, in this case a lovely pagoda inspired fantasy in grisaille.

Tekserve: Kids' Stuff

The latest window at Tekserve is all about kids and technology, highlighting games and learning apps. The amazing robot was designed and made by one of the founders of Tekserve years ago and has been re-purposed as a digital gardener.  Each flower growing in his electronic garden features a blooming ipad or ipad mini featuring a specific game or app.

Throwback: Beltrami, Fashion as Art

In New York in the art-crazed 80's, even fashion was obsessed! At the time Geoff was doing all the windows for the Beltrami Fifth Avenue Store, which was between 55th and 56th Streets, and Geoff's take on a fashion-meets-art window design was to create an art gallery style "exhibition" of Beltrami's 'exhibitionistic' clothing with the mannequins (also in Beltrami outfits) as the art-goers. To underline the theme, the walls were covered in high quality artist's canvas, and the frames were museum quality from Eli Wilner.

Many Armani

Always a study in the precise and geometrical, this Armani installation is no exception.  Using Ombré-d printed plexi-glass, each row of shingles were meticulously cut-out by computer and applied to the face of a large light-box fading from dark turquoise to a lighter shade at the bottom.  Because of the angle at which the shingles are placed, light glows from in between the rows. And because of the highly reflective surface of the plexi glass lights from many other sources reflect in the shingles and create a sparkling effect as you walk by.

Throwback: World Financial Center

Back in the early 90's Geoff was commissioned to create installation art in 20 empty storefront that were basically advertisement for other shops within the WFC mall. The common thread in each window was Geoff's signature illustrative and whimsical painting style.

For Barney's Geoff's took the store logo and illustrated the name using depictions of men's fashion and haberdashery.

The WFC flagship restaurant, the Hudson Grille, specialized in the bounty of the Hudson River Valley and so Geoff created a more rustic and 'farm-like' window overflowing with the harvest.

For this luxury stationer, Geoff created an 'over-the-top' desk laden with pens, pencils and handmade paper and envelopes. The paper scrolls in the foreground help to further underscore their specialty.

Geoff chose the highlights a shop's winter fashion by creating a birch forest vignette, surrounded by a twig and leaf themed frame.

To make a connection between a music store and the World Financial Center, Geoff came up with the clever idea of using a piggy bank being filled up with Compact-disc (in the days before digital music) coins. A sound investment, Oink!!

To add a flair of Roman grandeur for a shop featuring Italian leather goods, Geoff set the merch atop hand painted Roman columns, revealed by tied back draperies.