BAM! FLOWER WALL!

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, let me explain. I’m currently taking HFM64: The Ins and Outs of Fashion Merchandising, and last week we went around to different stores to check out the displays and such. It just so happened that the Macy’s Flower Show was going on, so we got to see all of the amazing flowers along with the amazing clothes. Thus the flower wall. They’re not real, but all of the flowers inside were, so when you walked in a wave of floral happiness hit your nose!

Before we went out to look at the displays, the amazing Professor Ross explained to the class what we should be looking for as fashion researchers:

• Window messages and combinations
• Color stories
• In-store signage and promotions (table displays)
• Key items
• New fashion items/details
• Wall/fixture merchandising (outfits or individual items?)
• Important labels/lines to watch

Our final project will be a paper on fashion forecasting (the only paper I’ve ever been excited about writing), so by noticing current trends and key items in stores we’ll have a good idea of how to predict future trends.

We walked over to 34th street to look at the displays in  stores like:

Macy’s                                              H&M

Forever 21                                             Zara

Notice any trends? Leave me a comment with your predictions for next year!

A little trick Professor Ross taught us is to scope out the inside of a store first, sneak in some pictures, and then go outside to take shots of the window displays. If you shoot the windows first the salespeople will know you’re there to photograph and might give you a hard time. Stores like H&M are pretty chill about taking pictures, but Zara will throw a fit, so you have to be a little sneaky 😉 Also, when you’re shooting the window displays, get up really close to the glass, like right on top of it, so the glare won’t show. If you look closely at my picture of the Macy’s display you can see the T Mobile store reflected in the glass, but that was before I learned to get close.

So that was our class, and it was really interesting to see what was going on in the stores right now. Next time you’re out shopping take a minute to really look at the displays and notice how everything is set up. You might be surprised at how different stores market similar items.

We also got to go shopping at Forever 21 after we looked at all the displays, and I got some really cute shorts that I’m dying to wear to class once it gets warm, but that’s a whole different story. There’s going to be someone roaming the halls during class times to take pictures of stylish Precollege students, so I’ve been planning out some fabulous things to wear. I can’t wait to see what some of you guys are wearing!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far, and don’t worry, the weekend is almost here, so we’ll be back at FIT before we know it!

Erin