DRESSING THE WINDOWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 10

DRESSING THE WINDOWS

ALONG " TEMPTATION ROW."

ARTISTIC APPEAL FOR TRADE.

BRIGHTER HOLIDAY STREETS. The aesthetic appeal of the modern city shop window has within the past few days held the attention and opened the purses of thousands of country visitors to Auckland. In an ago when windowdressing is an individual art upon which large emporiums lavish thousands—the sprats with whicli to catch the mackerels of a vast volume of holiday trade—principal streets are more aptly than ever dubbed "Temptation Row." They have assumed the status of refined exhibitions of personal requirements.

Gono are the days when a shop window was just that; when it was a place in which to display as many and as great a variety of goods as the house boasted. Graduallyr—more swiftly within recent years—'the greater shopping centres of New Zealand have come to realise that something more than bulk displays is needed to maintain their place oh the crest of the wave of competition. Appeal of "Silent Models." Even the more or less blase city dweller frequently now finds himself involuntarily pausing in his promenade along Queen Street or Karangahape Road to glance back at a well-nigh perfectly lifelike wax model completely dressed a la mode. If it is a summer frock that is "worn" as like as not the figure will be lounging in a cane chair, parasol in hand, against a beach or garden background in which the very foliage and flowers force the conviction that they are thrivingly alive —an impression heightened by a few "fallen petals," or "withered leaves," on the floor of the bay.

The party frock and tho ballroom dress have their environment no leiss well presented with the aid of a shaded compartment and electric lighting. - Momentarily the passer-by forgets it is high noon with a drizzling rain drenching the street behind her, and maikes lightning calculation of the effect which a purchase of the " creation " would have upon the exchequer.

Few give thought to the amount of time, labour, thought, training and monetary outlay involved in creating that desue. The window-dresser of the hour is a professional man commanding in some leading Auckland shops a salary which four figures would not disconcert. One Queen Street emporium employs seven of them —some men and women who are sent overseas from time to time to keep abreast of the latest ideas in window appeal as exemplified in New York, London or Paris. Ever-changing Displays. Never is a window allowed to grow "stale." Changes in its colour scheme, in the lay-out, the "theme" of display, fire wrought as frequently as possible. As far removed from the garish figures of the not long ago, as those of Tussaud'rf were from a side-show waxworks, are the beautifully-executed models which grace the - windows of modern Queen Street. Mostly of French, German and Austrian manufacture, they cost up to £SO and more each, and there are scores in the larger establishments.

Of late years Australia has entered the field of wax model production and it emphasises the development of this form of window-dressing to mention that there is in Auckland at least one establishment which repairs* a broken "finger" or a chipped "nose" of a wax "mannequin. Cunningly placed spotlights and floodlights, multi-coloured and admitting of infinite variety ot shading, are arranged with all the thought and artistry of a motion picture studio "set" for the "shooting" of a scene.

While the drapery houses are the beau ideal of the window dresser's art, its application extends much further afield. It is, for instance, something in the nature of a revelation to .witness what may be made of the arrangement of a phalanx of pianos, an attractive "library face of books and stationery, and a pyrarnidic scheme sn a chemist's shop. Electricity As An Agent.

Electrically-operated contrivances come to the aid of the vendors of goods not in themselves beautiful. A nodding "dummy," the familiar stock-in-trade of the ventriloquist, or a flashing sign of arresting character, serve to command attention and pave the way to custom. Marconi has given the vendors of wireless apparatus, and others, too, for that matter, a powerful drawing-card. Several business houses oxploit "loud-speakers" for the delectation of potential customers who between listening to such diverse items, as the result of "the cup," and an operatic selection, direct attention to the array behind the plate-glass. The principle of the sugar-coated pill is paramount in modern advertising appeal. One Queen Street, shop has as the central figuro of its window a "fireplace" in which there is projected, magic-lantern-like, on a miniature*screen, New Zealand panoramas interspersed at intervals with ."pure advertising." "Silent salesmanship." as window displays may be termed, make for brighter streets, better business, and a happier holiday for the country folk and townspeople who mingle in their thousands along the pavements of the metropolis at the festive Season.