it's time.
Shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday night, security teams raced across Fifth Avenue with police barricades, closing one of New York City's major arteries to traffic. A grand piano has been moved into position in front of the dark Saks Fifth Avenue facade between 49th and 50th Streets.
And then: Elton John.
Dressed in a blue jacket, red slacks, and his signature red eyeglasses, he waved to the audience crowding the curbs from the passenger seat of a glowing purple golf cart as he carried him to the piano.
He sat on the bench as his husband, David Furnish, and sons Zachary, 11, and Elijah, 9, formed a semicircle around him. Then the countdown began.
“5…4…3…2…1!”
Black curtains rose above the six ground-floor windows, revealing rocket ships on rakes, a kaleidoscope, and a rotating hood.
"And you can tell everyone that this is your song," mister. John, 75, a junior, sang his hit song.
On the limestone façade behind, miles of lamps spring to life, multicolored streaks of light making their way up the neoclassical building, meandering and blooming in wheels of light, an annual department store tradition since 2004. Fireworks shot off the ceiling in bursts. From orange, red and green.
"Merry Christmas everyone!" the master. John said.
In an interview before his performance, A.J. John, who grew up gazing into the holiday windows of a department store at his local store in Harrow, north London and later at Harrods and Selfridges with his family, has described the tradition as a "magical" part of the holiday season.
"I was always so excited to see the new shows every year," he said. "It was the highlight of Christmas."
Sachs also donated $1 million to the singer's AIDS Foundation's Rocket Fund and co-coordinated a Collecting holiday merchandise With Mr. John and featuring more than 60 designers, including Gucci, Versace, Valentino, and Jason Wu. The collection includes clothing - including sportswear, of course - shoes, beauty, eyewear and accessories.
The annual ornate shop window displays are stunning—Sacks' light and window display alone took more than 250 people nearly 40,000 hours to complete—but they're a dying art. There are now only a few New York City department stores—Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, Macy's, and Bloomingdale's—that still build the traditional handmade scenes each year.
In interviews, four of the designers who have overseen holiday window displays in department stores this year share their inspirations, a look inside the production process—which can take up to nine months—and what to look for for Easter eggs.
Bergdorf Goodman
The department store treats its seven holiday window productions as a nearly year-round endeavor.
“We never stop dreaming, planning, producing, installing or maintaining them,” said David Hoy, senior director of visual performances at Bergdorf Goodman who has overseen the handcrafted shows that span Fifth Avenue between 57th and 57th. 58th Street - near 58th Street - for over 25 years.
The initial drawing begins in February, the beginning of a nine-month process that involves about 100 people and requires 10,000 hours, the master said. Hui said. This year, the team decided on a "magic in the making" theme that featured seven arts and crafts items—sewing, metal crafts, mosaics, papier-mâché, paper carving, scrapbooking, and woodcraft—each paired with a designer, among them Marc Jacobs, Noir Ki Ninomiya and Libertine.
In the mosaic window, a shimmering zebra with green stripes, a giraffe with red spots, a gorilla and a polar bear stand alongside an ace of spades and a mannequin wearing Aliétte's shimmering silver dress. The scrapbooking window is an Alice-in-Wonderland-like, bird's-eye view of a mannequin in black hat, striped suit and red Mary Jane shoes, surrounded by hundreds of scrapbooking projects - with a door on the floor.
“The purpose of all this is to cause aesthetic delirium,” mr. Hui said. "You may have to go back two or three times to get all the details."
Bloomingdale's
Walking down Lexington Avenue near 59th Street, past Bloomingdale's holiday windows—which this year are stuffed with bears, oversized ornaments, and snowmen—window designers hope to remind you of your youth.
"We want you to feel the windows from a child's eyes," said John Klimkowski, senior director of visual marketing at Bloomingdale's, who has overseen window design at the retailer for a decade. "And we always add a few surprises that only the grown-ups will get."
On the occasion of the store's 150th anniversary, Mr. The team of more than 65 people, which began production in June, has focused on popular Bloomingdale's items such as the store's holiday bear, which customers collect from year to year, Klimkowski said. The creators, who included more than a dozen fashion designers, branched out from there, adding active elements like a sewing machine with a needle that moved up and down as if it were sewing ribbon onto a bear's bow.
“We want to surprise and delight,” Mr. Klimkowski said of the windows, which also feature wrapping paper, champagne glasses, and a 3D camera in the Games Workshop. "At any time we can add some action or movement it is a plus."
Messi
She's tiptoeing back—and she's got a confidence boost.
The brave blue reindeer first appeared in the windows of Macy's flagship store on 34th Street in Herald Square last year in a series of adventures that chronicled her journey to learn to fly. Now - confident of her ability to fly - she travels to visit friends for holidays and spend time with them.
“Celebrating the holidays is something we all crave, especially during the Covid years,” said Manny Urquizo, national window manager and campaign manager at Macy’s. “This year, we have the opportunity to all be together, and you can see that reflected in the tiptoe trip.”
The store's nine-month design process began in February and involved hundreds of people, including graphic designers, carpenters, sculptors, puppeteers and electricians. This year's windows include squirrels tucked inside a Christmas tree, which pass ornaments back and forth on an oversized marble path; a family of polar bears snuggling in cozy striped sweaters; and a gingerbread house with miniature chewing gum.
There are also some Easter eggs that only stylists know about.
"The little Christmas cards hanging in Cave Bear are a little nod to my family," said Urquizo. "My children's names are inside the cards, and people can't see that, but it's nice to know."
Saks Fifth Avenue
When you have Elton John help curate your holiday window displays, it only seems appropriate that one of them include miniature rockets that zip up and down.
“We started with the idea of something memorable, nostalgic, and cool about the holidays,” said Andrew Winton, senior vice president of creative at Saks, who has overseen holiday shows and light shows since 2018. On how to achieve this in the future.
Although Saks has been putting on an annual holiday light show for nearly two decades, this year is the first to feature windows that light from the inside and interact with more than 600,000 lights on the building's facade, which sync to the music—a master mix. John's songs, including "Step Into Christmas" and "Your Song".
This year the window includes a kaleidoscope, a game that opens and closes, and a marble path - Nod, sir. Winton said, that mr. John's famous colorful and embroidered costumes and elaborate collections. The toys, which move along with hundreds of thousands of LED lights and individually programmed music, are painted in reflective metallic colors that give them a futuristic touch.
"It's been a lot of late nights trying to make sure those 600,000 bulbs are all working the right way," Winton said. "We were up until 3 in the morning trying to troubleshoot everything."
He is looking forward to returning as a spectator.
He said: "You can listen to chatter and chatter." "You can see people's reactions and get a sense of the holiday spirit."
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