adjuncts. Conservatives are in utter rout, while radicals are at odds among themselves as to what constitutes modernism and on which side of futurism their exposition of the bizarre shall halt. Merchant owners, comprehending but little of the rationale underlying the various window dressing trends and innovations, appreciate fully the wide and deep sweep of the general movement and hasten to catch up with their competitors.
To the experienced eye, while the movement predicates a genuine renaissance of interest in window display, it has become, in effect, a revolution in method. As a revolution, it is cribbed, cabined and confined within limitations predetermined by the store architecture of a bygone era. It is by this time apparent that one of two things must happen— either the limitations must choke the revolution, or the revolution must burst the limitations. To date, the only report possible on the revolution is progress, with a gathering of headway all along the line.
The old standards applying to store fronts serve no longer as limitations wherever a building for retail trade is erected de novo. The architect is called on to devote his best efforts to the window
plans as a consideration of prime importance, with particular attention to its facilities for whatever departures in window dressing may develop in the future. Where alterations are made in store fronts, the necessity for more modern windows is commonly the factor dictating the change. Where no alterations have been made in the facade, window interiors are being remodeled and the front itself has become a chronic anxiety, premonitory of ultimate reconstruction for the newer uses of window display.
in all of this increasing concern with the store’s windows, only two of the old touchstones retain their ancient virtues in the retail merchant’s mind. One is that his windows must sell his goods, a yardstick of retail trade which will never change by the fraction of an inch. The other is that, as compared with European standards of window depth, his windows must remain shallow, with 10 feet the maximum and with his preference for something nearer to 7 feet. This instinct for shallowness is merely the corollary to his requirement of a selling window as opposed to the vast interior of the European show window. Where the great German de
partment stores and specialty shops take pride, but no immediate profit, in staging magnificent scenes running back 20 feet from the glass, the American store is content with making a striking style impression with merchandise presented fully to the eye; and the tribute to its window display which it most values is the customer s inquiry at the counter for an item which is the exact counterpart of the one seen in the window. The most significant feature of a symposium on window display, which has been running for months in a leading journal of the women’s wear trade, is the recurrence of the dictum by prominent New York merchants: “Our windows are dressed to sell our merchandise. ” Not that any among them believes he can afford to disregard decoration in all the refinements of the art, but simply that, while the window decorator may go as far as he likes, his arts and graces must remain strictly subordinate and wholly contributory to the increase of the store s sales volume.
The architect may as well accept these two requirements as immutable. For all the rest, he
BAINBRIDGE BUILDING, NEW YORK — WILLIAM VAN ALEN, ARCHITECT
SEVENTY-FIVE PER CENT WINDOW SPACE TO ACCOMMODATE SHOPS
Photo by Van Anda
To the experienced eye, while the movement predicates a genuine renaissance of interest in window display, it has become, in effect, a revolution in method. As a revolution, it is cribbed, cabined and confined within limitations predetermined by the store architecture of a bygone era. It is by this time apparent that one of two things must happen— either the limitations must choke the revolution, or the revolution must burst the limitations. To date, the only report possible on the revolution is progress, with a gathering of headway all along the line.
The old standards applying to store fronts serve no longer as limitations wherever a building for retail trade is erected de novo. The architect is called on to devote his best efforts to the window
plans as a consideration of prime importance, with particular attention to its facilities for whatever departures in window dressing may develop in the future. Where alterations are made in store fronts, the necessity for more modern windows is commonly the factor dictating the change. Where no alterations have been made in the facade, window interiors are being remodeled and the front itself has become a chronic anxiety, premonitory of ultimate reconstruction for the newer uses of window display.
in all of this increasing concern with the store’s windows, only two of the old touchstones retain their ancient virtues in the retail merchant’s mind. One is that his windows must sell his goods, a yardstick of retail trade which will never change by the fraction of an inch. The other is that, as compared with European standards of window depth, his windows must remain shallow, with 10 feet the maximum and with his preference for something nearer to 7 feet. This instinct for shallowness is merely the corollary to his requirement of a selling window as opposed to the vast interior of the European show window. Where the great German de
partment stores and specialty shops take pride, but no immediate profit, in staging magnificent scenes running back 20 feet from the glass, the American store is content with making a striking style impression with merchandise presented fully to the eye; and the tribute to its window display which it most values is the customer s inquiry at the counter for an item which is the exact counterpart of the one seen in the window. The most significant feature of a symposium on window display, which has been running for months in a leading journal of the women’s wear trade, is the recurrence of the dictum by prominent New York merchants: “Our windows are dressed to sell our merchandise. ” Not that any among them believes he can afford to disregard decoration in all the refinements of the art, but simply that, while the window decorator may go as far as he likes, his arts and graces must remain strictly subordinate and wholly contributory to the increase of the store s sales volume.
The architect may as well accept these two requirements as immutable. For all the rest, he
BAINBRIDGE BUILDING, NEW YORK — WILLIAM VAN ALEN, ARCHITECT
SEVENTY-FIVE PER CENT WINDOW SPACE TO ACCOMMODATE SHOPS
Photo by Van Anda