Millions of people set eyes on the marvelous holiday window display at Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York flagship each year and Saks’ Senior Fashion Director Colleen Sherin aims to indulge each viewer with incredible fashions that entice and excite. This year, Saks is featuring 10 unforgettable ensembles — several of which Sherin and her team commissioned especially (and exclusively!) for the hotly anticipated event.
“Our window unveiling and light show have become an iconic New York event,” says Sherin, who has worked closely on the project with Saks Director of Windows, Julio Gomez since April. “The fashion fantasy element to the windows is our way of not only celebrating the amazing roster of designers we carry at Saks Fifth Avenue, but also of giving a little gift back to the city of New York.”
Naeem Khan, Rag & Bone, Olivier Theyskens, Nina Ricci, Haider Ackermann, Stella McCartney, Proenza Schouler, Erdem, and Marchesa have all created one of a kind looks to be highlighted in the windows amid the stupendous light show, projecting snow falling down and bubbles rising up on the store’s Fifth Avenue façade.
In creating his stunning dress, Naeem Khan was inspired by the gears and mechanical components that are a key component in the Saks holiday window story. Khan named his degrade scalloped feather design embellished with oxidized sterling silver pailletes, the “Sterling Bird of Paradise.” Olivier Theyskens, meanwhile took inspiration from Saks’ bubble motif in designing a long-sleeve silk gown with a fishtail hem is hand-embroidered with iridescent “bubble” paillettes.
The house of Alexander McQueen has generously loaned Saks the stupendous claret-colored gown with coordinating shoes and ruff collar designed by Sarah Burton and worn by Kate Moss on the September 2011 cover of Vogue. The multi-layered frayed organza bodice is the embodiment of a silk mille-feuille, topped by a Victorian corset and bustle. The gown, whose skirt alternates from hand-frayed strips of silk organza pooling into a riotous ostrich feather train in the same hue, took 2,500 hours to create. “When I first took this gown out of the massive box that it arrived in from London, I was utterly speechless and enraptured by its beauty,” muses Sherin.
