Overview

One year in my life as a display window designer in Chicago at Bonwit Teller in 1978. This book has 35 photo plates that tell a story of Visual Merchandising from an earlier era. Mannequins are a big part of this story. Although only a few styles of mannequins are pictured in this book, it's revealing how these few impacted my creative process. It is also very interesting in hindsight how much creative freedom I had at the time. A creative freedom that does not exist, for the most part, for today's Visual Merchandiser. I often refer in the book to Display Window Design, as this was a transition era to today's Visual Merchandising job description. The prominent display window in this book was an unusual one even for it's time - it was located in the iconic John Hancock building in Chicago. At 30 feet wide it was a monster to figure out a design approach that made any sense, both practical as well as budgetary. For anyone not familiar with Bonwit Teller, a quick google will tell part of the story. This was a fairly small, exclusive chain of stores originating out of New York. They had an extensive selection of designer clothing from the era, as well as being home to Shop-In-Shop designer labels such as Hermes, Missoni & Fendi. I was very young and had a great time with so much creative freedom - and not so much of a great budget. In the years after I left Bonwit's, I would look at these photos and think they looked awfully dated. However, in the last few years, I've come to see them as vintage and yes, perhaps dated a bit - but I think the apparel, as well as some of my designs have stood the test of time. I hope the reader will agree.

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9781503048164

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JD Vincent is a freelance visual merchandiser and display designer based in Chicago, IL. He has been a display designer for 41 years and has been an independent contractor for 23 of those years. His visual merchandising clients have included well known companies such as Reebok, The North Face, Cartier, Zegna, Hart Schaffner & Marx, the Chicago Merchandise Mart as well as many other local retail and wholesale companies. In his full time career he worked at various Chicago department and specialty stores including Marshall Field's and Bonwit Teller. It is his work at Bonwit Teller that is featured in his first book - Me and the Mannequins - The Way I Display(ed). In what is to be a series of coffee table style books, it features many photographs of vintage display windows that feature fashion, the style of mannequins and display design of that era. Along with these vintage photos are anecdotes of the creative process that created these display windows along with his thoughts about what display was like in that time period. Mr. Vincent currently resides in Chicago and works as an independent visual merchandiser and designer for both retail and wholesale companies that include, among others, Bobby Jones, Hickey Freeman as well as yet to be discovered new clients. He intends to continue to document his early career to share with a new generation of visual merchandisers as well as those of his own generation who might like to reminisce about those times.

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