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During the more than 35 years that I have been involved in retail lighting there have been countless articles written on the subject. They usually take the form of a report on current ideas, trends, new innovations or technical data. Each is informative and they serve as important additions to the archive of the ever-changing history of lighting.
I was pleased to be asked to offer my own opinions on the subject of retail lighting (and display window lighting, in particular), having devoted many decades to working with various stores across the country from Hawaii to Florida, as well as in Tokyo, lighting windows and interiors for Seibu Department stores. Contrary to the rumors, I did not do my first window lighting with the use of gas lamps. I did, however, once suggest to Karl Lagerfeld that we just use candles when he kept insisting on an even more romantic and dim lighting effect. Don’t get me wrong, I love candlelight, but you don’t want to burn down the store!
Returning to the current challenges and uses of lighting today, we are truly in the best of times and the worst of times. New lighting technologies have exploded onto the market in recent years giving us more choices than ever before, while at the same time we face ecological concerns and a horrific economic downturn. The current financial crisis has had a very profound effect on the retail industry across the U.S. and especially in New York City, the fashion capital of the world. The recent money meltdown has delivered a serious body blow to countless American businesses, including the retail market. Many stores have closed, both small shops and satellite stores belonging to larger retailers. Large numbers of employees have faced layoffs and the general feeling on the street is one of panic and depression. The massive reduction in spending money in the U.S. will undoubtedly have an effect on consumer purchasing for some time to come, perhaps for years.
It would be foolish and irresponsible not to take these conditions seriously, but perhaps we need to step back and take a more imaginative approach to solutions instead of blindly making choices that will hurt our situation rather than help it. We must work closely with our colleagues in the industry to make intelligent and creative decisions to combat the present situation. We need facts and informed opinions to develop the proper strategy and tactics to address this economic collapse.
In the past few years stores have been faced with a dwindling customer loyalty, due in large part to the Internet and catalogue competition just as energy codes have become much more restrictive. Now, the economic bust has created yet another challenge requiring new solutions.
WINDOW TO THE PAST
Let me discuss store display windows from my past and present experience. Display windows not only reinforce the particular image of the store, but must be used to attract the attention of shoppers. They constitute such an important role in retailing that the themes—and especially the lighting—have become an art form unto themselves and can be compared to stage set lighting.
There has been a departure of late as compared to the “golden age” of window displays of the late 1970s and early ’80s. In those days, New Yorkers were aware of what nights certain stores like Bonwit Teller, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co. and especially Henri Bendel changed their displays and would drive or walk by to see the new windows and get a peek at the latest “story line” being created.
 Many of the window designers had followings, and people such as Gene Moore, Candy Pratts, Robert Benzio, Victor Hugo and Robert Currie were well-known around town and treated like celebrities. Their artistic expressions always offered a unique experience that was entertaining and sometimes quite audacious; their approach to selling fashion relied on scenarios that were often romantic but could also have strong elements of sex or even violence.
Soon after arriving in New York I started working at Bendel’s as assistant to the lighting designer. When he left a few weeks later, I was asked to take his place as the store’s window and interior lighting person. I was lucky to be working with Robert Currie, who had incredible talent and followed a spontaneous creative process. He seldom expressed any rigid lighting requirements; instead, he would give me a rough idea of where he thought he was headed as far as a story or situation and then would let me explore my own choices as to how to light the windows.
At the time I was experimenting with a lot of colored lighting and I believe I was one of the first people to use colored fluorescents in windows as either a supplemental or decorative lighting effect. Using Currie’s vision as a jumping off point, I was free to use my own imagination and develop the lighting effects that I thought would complement or further add a mood that was right for the scene being presented that week. The windows during those years enthralled customers, photographers and historians alike. I must admit I am most excited when I have a job that uses this “story” approach or attitude about presentation in windows.
EMOTIONAL DISPLAYS
Unfortunately, many stores have gotten away from this technique in favor of just putting a few mannequins in the window with no thought of using a plot that might incite emotion in the onlooker—be it humor or even shock. In my mind there should always be an emotional reaction, or the window is a failure. Some stores are getting rid of their display windows altogether and are remodeling so the customer looks right into the store. I think this is most often a mistake because people need a story, now more than ever. People need to forget their problems and worries, if even for a few minutes. A good window offers the opportunity to enter another world of possibilities, to escape the drudgeries of everyday life.
Narrative windows have a way of making people stop and look, showing them something they may have never seen or putting a new spin on something they may see every day. The display designer is doing what every artist does: showing people the way he or she sees things and making people see something differently from the way they’ve seen it before.
 Behind all of it is “beauty”—the beauty of the merchandise, certainly, but more importantly the beauty of what the merchandise suggests. The lighting designer must see this beauty first and then share his dream with the many strangers on the sidewalk. As a painter, I am very aware of color and its effect on people. When I work with windows I am essentially “painting with light.” Just as the movies helped a nation face an economic crisis in a past time by using fantasy, glamour and humor to allow people to forget their own daily struggles (if only for a short time), the world within a display window lets onlookers enter with their own imagination, dreams and expectations.
The photographs included in this article are examples of my approach to lighting. I use various incandescent fixtures, many with colored or beam-softening glass filters. The main fixtures I use are lowvoltage MR16 and AR111, plus line voltage PAR 20, PAR 30, PAR38 and even an occasional fluorescent, neon or fiber-optic unit. Of course the big news today is the introduction of LED lighting that allows for changing colors without the heat of incandescents or their high levels of wattage consumption. Fortunately, the new codes being introduced to cut down on wattage usage do not usually apply to closed window interiors with a back wall. We need incandescent lamps because of their “punch” and ability to accent merchandise so it stands out from the background. Using a compact fluorescent to replace an incandescent does not give the desired look to most merchandise.
Some applications may even require the use of theatrical fixtures, such as framing projectors or small ellipsoidals, that can be used with gobos, or templates, as well as colored gels to give various patterns or movement to a scene in the window. Just as music makes people responsive and aware of their surroundings, moving lights with color and pattern changes are bound to draw attention.
A DIFFERENTIATOR
The interaction between the retailer and the customer is of utmost importance, especially if two competing stores near to each other are selling the same merchandise. It is up to the designer to make a significant “look” with the props and lighting that will help differentiate one from another. From a subtle suggestion to a more blatant representation, every display needs good lighting to set it apart from others in the marketplace.
I always admired the Gumps store in San Francisco for its approach to windows. One window could show an extremely expensive item, while another features low-priced sale items, but the design choices and great care taken in the lighting was of equal concern. People still look to the big city retailers to set the tone for the rest of the country in window styles, as well as interior lighting.
I seem to have come full circle in my career since my first lighting job in New York City at Henri Bendel on West 57th Street. For the past year I’ve been back on 57th doing the window lighting for Tiffany & Co. I am honored to follow in the footsteps of the brilliant Gene Moore and I will try to uphold his tradition of dedication and creativity in retail lighting.
Lastly, for the retail establishment itself, these window displays are not just an exercise in storytelling. They could provide an opening for higher sales in a sluggish economy.
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