Making Waves on Fifth Avenue

Lord & Taylor's New York flagship store on Fifth Avenue hopes to make a splash with its summer windows on display through May 4. Lord & Taylor Makes Waves are the Fifth Avenue store's summer 2007 windows that celebrate the Georgia Aquarium--where its current catalog was shot earlier this year. A selection of swimsuits, sportswear and dresses are showcased among footage of the deep-sea life found in the Aquarium's vast galleries. According to a press release, "myriad marine species will be displayed in a seamless video wall, while high in the arch above the main doors, a giant LED screen will show images captured at the Aquarium." To further enhance the deep-sea atmosphere, Bluworld's "WaterWall" will create a mysterious underwater effect on the windows flanking the entrance of the store.

The state-of-the art Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta--the world's largest--is made up of five distinct galleries depicting different habitats ranging from Arctic to Tropical. These five galleries feature more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species in more than 8 million gallons of water.

This isn't the retailer's first foray into interesting exhibits. Past Lord & Taylor Fifth Avenue window exhibits include sculptures by Chakaia Booker and Manolo Valdes and the paintings of Red Grooms, Thiery Despont, Richard Estes and Larry Rivers, as well as those of Gu Gan, Guo Jin, Liu Kuo-sung and Yang Yangping. Lord & Taylor has also showcased the photographs of Gideon Lewin and Roberto Dutesco, as well as D. A. Pennebaker's short film, Daybreak Express, shown together with Andrew Garn's historical photographs from the New York Transit Museum.

How the Georgia Aquarium window displays fit into Lord & Taylor's overall rebranding scheme, I'm not quite sure. But one thing is for sure...Lord & Taylor needs to continue bringing out the big guns to get back to the top of their game.

--Jessie Bove