I was browsing through my photos from college tonight, and when I came across this one, I realized I had come completely full circle. In college, I worked at the Yale Co-Op as a "Visual Display Assistant." I didn't really know what that meant, but I knew it was a cool job, and I got to be creative and do fun stuff and get paid to do it. My boss, Johnette Luxeder, had been in the world of visual merchandising with Macy's and other big department stores for years, and she taught me the basics of store displays. We had fun working on these windows together, cutting out giant foam core shapes by hand. I remember cutting out that snowman. And I was particularly proud of a polar bear I did for the window next door. I thought I had the best job in the world.
And I still do. Little did I know, that 12 years later, I would be re-creating that holiday window of North Face product, complete with trees. That's what I'm working on right now, looking for inspiration for the perfect tree shapes for the Holiday '08 design concept. There will be no fake snow in this year's North Face window, but there will be trees. And jackets. Look out for it coming to a window near you in November!
