Excitement peaks as the event ‘A Christmas Festival of Savings, Come Shop, Come Save’ opens today. Several stores are ringing in the festive season with fantastic window displays depicting the spirit of Christmas, and showcasing their wares to lure holiday shoppers.

Tallying the scores will be design specialists Ardelle dalla Costa and Suzanne Rousseau-Bernard.

It’s not the first time that the two will be knocking heads together. They have previously joined forces in décor and display in the execution of major events — a more than qualified team to judge the window dressings.

Dalla Costa shares: “I’m looking for originality, creativity, implementation — conveying the message, and the image the retailer is trying to project for the store, because these windows are the eyes of your store.” And Rousseau-Bernard agrees, adding: “At the end of the day, a window display is there to encourage you to buy the merchandise or entice you to come into the store. I think simplicity is important; I think balance is important… consistency in theme and colour, so that all the elements support each other. It is bringing forth your creative vision and executing it well; capturing the imagination and the eye of the viewer to bring them into your shop.”

With many of our shops now putting the final touches on their displays, the duo hit the plazas to inspect a few of the decorated store windows. Notepad in hand, they discussed some of the window displays and jotted down a few notes.

Says Rousseau-Bernard, “If you look in some of the stores in New York — Barneys, Bendel’s, Saks — sometimes they tell a story… whatever it is, it’s eye-popping, it’s catching, it pulls you in and you end up looking at it in a bit of awe.”

Adds dalla Costa: “Sometimes less is more… other times more is better, you just have to find the right balance.” Look out for the ladies today and tomorrow. We’ll have the winning window/s next week.

Come Shop, Save and happy window shopping.