Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Paris Christmas Windows, Galeries Lafayette



Galleries Lafayette is another large department store. And by large, I mean it takes more than one city block. (Click on any image to enlarge)
The lights on the front of the building looked like stained glass and they did a whole show. Which, as I stood and tried to capture with my video camera, is exactly when they stopped.

It was cold. I had to move forward.

Under the awnings, they have hung numerous chandeliers made of Christmas lights. Each window has a raised platform for small children to stand on so they may better see the windows. In between each window is some sort of street vendor. So that as you walk by, you must go in for the window, out to go around the vendor, back in to see the window, back out to go around the vendor... it's a bottleneck of people nightmare. We did this while the store was closed. There are thousands more people out here when the store is open.
Each window was themed to a new twist on a Broadway musical title. This had Sally Bowles spinning on a disco ball like Madonna.
No idea what this title was supposed to be. The over riding theme for the store was "Show Chaud Noël" which translates as "Hot Christmas Show".

The animation here was dolls acting as the Rockettes.
Again, all marionette from above.

This was "Singing in the Snow."


This one was small dolls doing the show "Mamma Mia."

The windows were very well done. A lot of them obviously there to entertain, but not necessarily to sell much. And so much of the focus was on the details close to the front and bottom of the windows, if you weren't a child you couldn't really see much going on in the animated windows. And I think some of the humor was a play on words in French, which I obviously didn't get. But the lights were IMPRESSIVE.