For those who would label themselves a \u2018Christmas person\u2019, no festive run up is\u00a0complete without a\u00a0visit to Oxford Street. By night, it is aglow\u00a0with colour \u2013 not just from the hugely imaginative lights that hang high above the road, but also from the buildings, which are often covered top to toe in fairy lights and whose vast windows reveal theatrical scenes, designed to inspire awe and attract headlines.<\/p>\n
And surely, even those with more than a subtle hint of Scrooge to their outlook can admit to having sneaked a peek in the newspaper to see how the top department stores have outdone themselves this year (if only to tut about the extravagance)? The big reveal of those magical windows has come to herald the start of the season and they\u2019re often as much of a draw as what\u2019s within those historic walls.<\/p>\n
![\""Passers-by\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2020\/11\/GettyImages_3347194-2342ecc.jpg?quality=90&resize=559%2C413"\" "\\"\"Passers-by\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> As unromantic as it sounds, we actually have the Industrial Revolution to thank for the origin of the great Christmas window. \u2018Window-shopping was a pastime here from at least (as far as we know) the late 18th century.<\/p>\n By the 19th century, when gas lighting appeared, some of its earliest uses was to illuminate shop windows. The bright displays against the much darker, not-yet-lit streets was striking,\u2019 says Judith Flanders, author of Christmas: A Biography. Dr Andrea Tanner, who is Fortnum & Mason<\/a>\u2019s in-house archivist, agrees: \u2018I suspect be a noteworthy feature of our store.\u2019<\/p>\n There\u2019s little record of how exactly these early displays might have looked, but they would certainly have been much humbler than the elaborate displays of today \u2013 featuring foliage, the newly adopted Christmas tree<\/a> (or German trees as they were initially known) and the store\u2019s most festive products. In the case of food sellers, these would have included a showcase of delicacies such as the Twelfth Night cake, a huge, decorated fruit confection that would be consumed on 5th January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The motive was the same as today though \u2013 the windows were designed to attract attention and shoppers, and that they did. For the general public they also offered an insight into how the other half lived. \u2018Fortnum & Mason won a gold medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition and, the same year, we recreated the exhibit in our windows \u2013 it was a tri- cornucopia from which spilled \u2018the fruits of the earth\u2019.<\/p>\n Another year, a real turtle was placed in a tank of water to make the point that our turtle soup was made from real turtles. And, from the 1860s, there were shooting stars that leapt across the windows \u2013 probably made from gaslights,\u2019 says Andrea.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, across the pond, says Judith, in 1874 RH Macy & Company<\/a> claimed to have $10,000-worth of dolls in its Christmas display<\/a> \u2013 a theme that continued with its later displays, which included a dolls\u2019 croquet party and a colonial dolls\u2019 outing. From the get-go, window displays were all about escapism.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Children were always a big focus for most stores, with sweets and toys displayed in the windows to lure them\u00a0\u2013 and their parents \u2013 inside. In the late 19th century, Santa\u2019s grottos began popping up across the UK. \u2018One of the first was said to be at JR Roberts<\/a> drapery and furniture shop in Stratford, in 1888, with 17,000 children visiting,\u2019 says Judith.\u00a0\u2018While in 1913, Peter Robinson<\/a> in Oxford Street had Santa visit in a model train set, with airships filled with presents, and a \u2018children\u2019s dream train\u2019, featuring a \u2018golden Spanish galleon laden with treasures\u2019.\u2019<\/p>\n In many ways, the seasonal activities for children in these early days were more imaginative and budget- blowing than those of today\u00a0\u2013 and, of course, didn\u2019t have to conform to the same laws and regulations. Bentalls of Kingston<\/a>, says Claire Masset, author of Department Stores, even had its own circus, complete with an elephant and lion that was kept overnight in the lift shaft.<\/p>\n In New York, it was during the 1920s that stores began to get serious about their windows and, in 1938, Lord & Taylor<\/a> created what is thought to be the first animated display. It was an unseasonably warm November so, to create the right mindset among potential customers, they removed all the stock from the windows, blew bleached cornflakes around and played the sound of howling winds \u2013 all with the aim of replicating a blizzard.<\/p>\n Windows didn\u2019t start to tell the complex visual stories that we see today until the turn of the 20th century. It was then that stores began\u00a0to think strategically about their displays. \u2018By the late\u00a019th and early 20th centuries, many shops were pooling their resources regarding decoration<\/a> and lighting and turning the beginning of the season into an event,\u2019 says Judith.<\/p>\nYou might also enjoy:<\/h4>\n
What\u2019s the history behind department store Christmas windows?<\/h2>\n
How did the early Christmas window displays look?<\/h2>\n
![\""crowds\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2020\/11\/FF966W-57e5d28.jpg?quality=90&resize=546%2C413"\" "\\"\"crowds\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>You might also enjoy:<\/h4>\n
Why did department stores decide to create Christmas window displays?<\/h2>\n
![\""a\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2020\/11\/GettyImages_681573835-f3b0293.jpg?quality=90&resize=521%2C413"\" "\\"\"a\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What made a good department store Christmas window display?<\/h2>\n
![\""One\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/19\/2020\/11\/JL-Christmas-toy-window-Oxford-Street-1967-4269qii-30ac46d.jpg?quality=90&resize=511%2C413"\" "\\"\"One\\"")
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