Christmas in New York: Santa Claus kitsch, hyper consumerism and childlike joy – WELT

Status: 07:12 a.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

ZGranted, you have to put in a bit of effort. The streets are full, the traffic is raging, tourists are standing everywhere taking photos of the large Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Manhattan in the run-up to Christmas is a mix of Santa Claus kitsch, hyper-consumerism, and childlike joy in festive leisure fun that is often nostalgic. An essential part of this overall package, which attracts countless tourists to the city every year, are the shop windows on the major shopping streets in Midtown and Uptown, from Fifth Avenue to Madison Avenue to Park Avenue. Even those who don’t fall into the shopping frenzy can’t help but admire the imagination with which department stores and brands dress up at this time of year.

When wanderlust calls

Saks 5th Avenue

The fact that a single brand dominates the window display of an entire department store is unusual, even here. But the current collaboration between the luxury department store Saks 5th Avenue and Dior is so spectacular and elaborate that you can easily spend at least 15 minutes walking from one window to the next. And therefore definitely a win-win-win campaign for strollers, brands and department stores. A huge zodiac sign shines on the facade, which is also decorated with typical Dior symbols. Founder Christian Dior was known to be fascinated by astrology, but his penchant for tarot cards is also one of the house’s “codes”. In the shop windows you can see replicas of the Dior store on Avenue Montaigne, a carousel with Dior designs, or a miniature version of the ice skating rink in Rockefeller Center, on which a sleigh rides around with “Miss Dior” perfume bottles.

Bergdorf Goodman

Fashion lovers will delight in the shop windows of this institution. This season’s theme could be described as “Frozen Queens at the North Pole Disco.” The men’s department, on the other hand, hired a yeti-like ancient animal as a model.

Bloomingdale’s

What’s sweeter than candy canes? Bloomingdale’s department store has a few ideas. For this year’s Christmas decorations, the company has collaborated with “Wonka”, the new adaptation of the story of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, in which Timothée Chalamet will play the main role. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear in the shop windows, but there are lollipops made of hand-blown colored glass, shiny metallic chocolate pralines and candies with Swarovski crystals. In the successful Apple+ series “The Gilded Age” about the development of New York at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when the descendants of the Mayflower immigrants rather unsuccessfully passed on their social importance to the “new rich”, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, JP Morgan’s had to give up, Bloomingdale’s also comes up every now and then. The first “multibrand” store with its clear dimensions. Handkerchiefs are probably rarely bought there these days.

Gucci

A trend is emerging this year: shop windows that are almost completely covered in silver. At Gucci, silver packages with horsebit buckles were stacked on top of each other, with shoes, bags and mannequins in silver outfits glittering in between. As if someone had unrolled the very large piece of aluminum foil. Wouldn’t surprise you either.

Louis Vuitton

Who brings the presents? In some cases, the Louis Vuitton delivery service. At least that’s what the New York boutique’s shop window suggests, in which small white picture book delivery vans transport stacks of gift packages. For a moment you think you are in the toy dreamland FAO Schwarz. There are also plenty of luxury toys.

Prada

This is how festive you would like to hang out at home. Huge Christmas tree baubles, open at the front, in which mannequin dolls sit like in a ball chair by Eero Aarnio, dangle in the Prada shop window. It’s unlikely that you can buy the seat ball. But definitely the outfits.

Cartier

“Think big” has always been the decoration motto at the French jeweler. For years, the white Wilhelminian style building on Fifth was wrapped with a huge red bow like a gift. Since the renovation a few years ago, the decoration has become more digital: now a captive balloon with a ruby ​​look rises up the facade, white clouds circle the building, the wreath of lights along the roof is reminiscent of a choker. Just in case a viewer is still thinking about what there is to buy there.

Rockefeller Center

Conveniently, the famous ice rink at Rockefeller Center is just around the corner, where you can directly compare the original and the window-filling Lego replica. And realize: both are impressive.

By the way, if anyone needs a decoration idea: In order to decorate the huge tree at the ice rink in a befitting and elaborate way, it had already been wrapped in scaffolding two weeks before the unveiling. If a new building had appeared underneath, you wouldn’t have been surprised. But that’s the idea of ​​Advent in New York: dedicated to wonder. Yes, also consumption but that is a different story. Ours also includes a mug of hot cocoa from the Ralph’s Café truck.