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NEW YORK -- Gone are the Chanel gowns, YSL gypsy looks and sex-on-a-stick Versace glitz. The holiday windows of New York's department and specialty shops are pure Americana -- children, Santa, snow, and of course, the Stars and Stripes.
Tradition is in, and, while irony isn't completely dead, it's certainly taking a little nap. Themes range from mechanized retrospectives of the holidays through the decades, adaptations of children's story books and more modern visual interpretations of holiday images.
Bergdorf Goodman scrapped its initial window concept and in the last 2 1/2 months has pulled together elaborate displays, stuffed with rich, antique pieces. "Our Fifth Avenue windows, which are our biggest statement, are based loosely on tableaux of values and virtues," said Linda Fargo, vice president of visual merchandising.
The major themes they landed on are hope, wisdom, grace, mirth and friendship. The "hope" window centers around a woman in white standing over a carved wooden cradle from which she has released a flock of white doves.
The store's 57th Street windows are an homage to New York with a black-and-white collage of the city's landmarks, while the 58th Street windows are centered around children.
Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys New York -- long known...
