Swing by Harrods in Knightsbridge here in London and one can view this extraordinary installation based on the Wizard of Oz. Of course it is the 70th Anniversary of the making of the iconic film (2009 seems to be the year of Anniversaries) Anyway, the team have produced this fantastic spectacle which I have been dying to go and view while on my walks around the city. The usual yellow high energy burning lamps (or light bulbs in lay mans terms) that highlight this Emporium have been replaced with Green ones. This I feel works incredibly well and draws one in to take a closer look. The execution of the windows to which I am ultimately drawn is absolutely superb. The quality of the styling and attention to detail is second to none. Having seen the film many times and so many varied versions of the Wizard of Oz on stage, of course the munchkins are always replaced by children, or in this case child mannequins. I find child mannequins quite sinister, but that's just me. Of course the UK has become so painfully politically correct and Health and Safety bonkers that this is slowly suffocating and killing creativity so maybe there is no alternative. In the mean time, Dorothy does have the whiff of an inflatable latex female friend of some lonely suburban male and there are many 'friends' of hers making an appearance in the proceeding windows. By the nature of this theme I cant think of any way of avoiding this as it is so heavily loaded. Anyway, after months of hard work by the creative team I do feel that anyone who is anyone should go and see this amazing interpretation...........however...........
............. just when you were enjoying this amazing spectacle from the creative team - reading the windows from left to right and following the narrative - this is the final window below. Revenge fantasy of meddling marketing? I will leave you to make up your own mind. (Videos of some of these windows can be found on my You Tube channel: Jhvefun)
