Clyde Moore: I LUV Park Avenue Style

The first step in retail is always to get the product noticed. The best ensemble you may ever wear will simply remain on the rack, will never receive those pleasant compliments, will never turn heads unless you first come inside and want to try it on.

The window display isn’t just a way to display the products inside, but a venue for telling customers about what kind of store it is, about its personality. It’s the invitation to prospective customers to come inside and see the possibilities. Large national retailers like The Gap, J. Crew and others spend millions of dollars ensuring their employees across the country all present the same products in the same manner, conveying their desired looks and messaging consistently throughout the year.

When it comes to Park Style, the messages are diverse, just as they should be, differentiated by the personality of the stores within.

The Park Avenue display window master is surely Tuni. With six windows from sidewalk to ceiling, there’s much opportunity to present, and the ladies at Tuni not only display, they often present a story. There’s even a creative director on staff, Brittnie Gallo, who leads the effort. First off, she told me one piece of information that surprised me: One window gets all new clothes each day, meaning all windows are changed out with new looks during a week.

“We change the clothing every day, but the displays go with the month of what we’re planning on,” she said. “We like to because we get new merchandise in every day. Basically ‘Love Spell’ was our Valentine’s theme, and we’ve kept it up for this entire month. However, next month is the art festival, so we’ll be debuting local artists in each window. We’ll have about three artists total, two windows per artist. So that would be featured through the next month and clothing would change daily.”

Local events and holidays are natural inspirations for window displays, but, says Gallo, “it’s basically whatever we’re inspired to do. We’re a creative little factory here, and we like to keep everyone pumped about the new styles and what’s coming in. And in order to do that, we have to display it so that you can walk by and see what’s new.”

Christmas and Valentine’s Day are their biggest efforts during the year, and while they may get ideas for next year immediately after or during this year’s presentation, it rarely works that way. “If we plan something that far in advance, it usually gets changed the week before because we were inspired by something new,” she says. “It’s always changing.”

“Our windows are basically an expression of what we carry in the store and what we’re about,” she continued. “It’s about fun, playful, every window is geared toward a story. They could be the younger girl in that story, the older woman, the corporate, the more party, but basically, they all have a story together and would be a different person.”

It’s rather shocking how many Tuni windows I can recall easily, even from more than a year ago. As I walk the Avenue, I can also easily remember windows from John Craig, Be on Park and Blue Door Denim Shoppe.

A new retailer on Park Avenue is quickly making its mark on my psyche. Peter Millar has some truly beautiful men’s clothing, but what has me watching their windows closely – and I know I’m not alone – is the amazing combinations put together by store manager Thomas Allen Cox. A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, I’ve had others remark to me that his pairings of shirts, ties, jackets and sweaters are ones they would never have dreamed of themselves, and can’t believe how beautifully they work together. I’m hoping to catch Thomas for a future column to share his insights.

On the window front, there’s one other trend I’m noticing more and more – and it’s a very positive one. Many more local businesses seem to be turning to other businesses for products to make their own displays better, such as Bay Hill Jewelers and The Collection, or to produce the displays from scratch, such as with The Spice & Tea Exchange and Erika Boesch with her new Bistro Loft Shop and formerly Absolute Décor.

Strong messaging is a big part of window dressing, and when that message is local, yeah, I think everyone’s a winner.

Clyde Moore operates local sites ILUVWinterPark. com and ILUVParkAve.com, and aims to help local businesses promote themselves for free and help save them money, having some fun along the way. Email him at [email protected] or write to ILuv Winter Park on Facebook or Twitter.