Winter Wonderland

In previous years I have featured the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue. I certainly love their windows and interiors and in no way do I want to demerit any window displays, but the real holiday pièce de résistance is Bergdorf Goodman. In doing background research for this article, I was surprised to find every major New York City news publication and many blogs have done a story on this. And with good reason - the windows are spectacular, imaginative and are a must see.
A large degree of the fascination with Bergdorf's windows this year is their eerie, surreal character. Many retailers hire outside firms to to their windows, but Bergdorf does theirs with their own window design team, headed by David Hoey, Senior Director of Visual Presentation. The painstaking work is done outside the city in a Queens warehouse - preparations start as early as October.
This year's theme is a white winter wonderland "Calendar Girls." From the Bergdorf website:

"Winter Spring, Summer, Autumn and Holiday are all beautifully celebrated in this holiday season's windows. Artful scenes that invite you to go on a year-round journey with Bergdorf Goodman. Utilizing a range of imagery all done in an ethereal, white on white scheme, each window draws inspiration from Natural History Museum Dioramas to created a blend of natural wonders and opulent big splendor."

The windows wrap around the building with three exposures to the street - 57th Street, Fifth Avenue and 58th Street. Bergdorf's location is one of the most prime in the entire city, with unobstructed views of Central Park, the Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. The perfect spot in New York City to enjoy a white-on-white winter wonderland ...