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The first day of spring was anything but springy here. Hope you fared better!
I keep thinking back to how when I was young, big department stores were still in existence. Downtown stores; ones with giant display windows, and employing "window dressers." My aunt was a window dresser for many years. Mayhap they still exist in the really big cities?
In old New Orleans, two big stores on Canal Street always had such interesting displays. D.H. Holmes and Maison Blanche would have veritable wonderlands at Christmas and Easter. Sometimes they had entire farmyard scenes inside, sometimes Easter eggs bigger than a first-grader, sometimes running water and windmills and tulips, all inside. Now these are long-gone stores, and few remember them, yet some spent their entire working lives at these stores. They were a tradition.
I like nowadays, but sometimes, it's bittersweet to remember what was...painful...so many changes...
Free Vintage Image
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I was a window dresser! During the 70s and still in high school, I remember "meeting" Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and thinking "I could do that (be a Rhoda <-- window dresser)! I'm self-deprecating, I have a little God-given artsy talent!" But even though I immediately tied a scarf around my head like Rhoda wore hers and looked for a guy named Joe to date, it was a long ten years after The Dream, when I finally landed a window dresser job at a Gimbels department store (P.S. The Joe part never materialized.) Later, a transfer would lead me to a windowless Gimbels, where I dressed in-house mannequins (<-- They can be pretty scary, if you're all alone with a bunch of them-- especially if a couple of them are covered by sheets and you think you see movement!) and built displays. *sigh* I miss the days of store windows filled with magic and enticing fashion statements. My creative juices flowed so hard back then, that it felt like Whitewater rapids were coursing through my veins most of the time! Thank you for this special ride on The Wayback Machine.
We didn't fare well on the first day of Spring- got snow! I do remember depatment store windows- it would be so nice to go back!
When I was 7 or 8 my mom got a windowdressing job at JCPenney! It used to be downtown on the main street of our tiny town and some times my sitter couldn't watch me, I got to go with her and sit in the window all day while she dressed the maniquins and decorated! There was a really nice lady she worked with that would always give me money to go 2 doors down to buy an ice cream cone as my mom never had extra, and I always came back and let her have a few licks:) JCPenny now is in the mall and not at all the same:(
P.s how in the world do you spell "maniquins"?? Anyone know? The fake people that wear the clothes???
Hi Holly, those window dressing jobs must be rally special. Creativity and artistry come together. You are so good yourself.Cute this picure. Saw a Sunday afternoon movie on TV with Mom. It was about a boy with the rare genetic defect called progeria where they age very fast. It made me cry a lot.Its in Hindi, called Paa.
Such memories of N'leans, I remember Jim taking Dean and I to look at the windows of Maison Blanche, their Christmas displays where a fairly land and I remember a couple of Easter displays. Those where the days, thanks for the memories.
Molly
My uncle used to work at Canada's main department store, Eatons. The whole chain is gone.
This little Easter angel is pretty, thanks. I grew up on a working farm so I didn't see window displays except in the movies. But it sounded like a neat job. Happy Sunday! Sally
Rain passed through here last night and left things overcast and a bit chilly. Perfect for a Sunday in my opinion though, so I don't mind!!
Love the colors in the image today! So pretty.
Those department store windows were something to behold for sure! I worked in retail in the beginning years of my career. Couple of the fashion stores I worked for along the way hired outside for window dressing. I always thought that was a cool job to have - they came, did their thing, and then went on to the next store. In other smaller shops I got to dress windows - always loved that creative process.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Ok, then, I'll try this again. I was here earlier today and wrote a comment, but as usual, my computer/internet must've done something and the comment didn't go through. (I was the second comment of this post)
I said that I remember window shopping in metropolitan Nuremberg, Germany, and enjoying the themes they had - it was so entertaining just to look and maybe stop for a glass of wine or coffe and go on for some more looking. Window shopping with a date was an activity, and it was done after business hours, so you could just stroll and talk and spend a pleasant evening out in the city.
Besides Christmas, I love Easter and this colorful graphic is so pretty ... and by the way, my "secret bunny" sent me an Easter card already and it'll probably be the only one I get this year (just like my only Valentine's Day card.)
While not 1458 years old like you, (If I must admit it I am about 1003), it seems like change is unstoppable and I am just taking things as they come these days.
Easter is scaring me this year since we are going to be at Pismo Beach. On the beach. In tents. HOW DO I HIDE THE EGGS???
Always enjoy your bittersweet ramblings...
Speaking of eggs, we have two white dove eggs, with a dumb mama dove in the front porch basket above my mailbox. I keep mulch in there and change out seasonal flowers/wreaths/pine boughs/etc. The lazy dove just made a nest out of the mulch, adding nothing. It stays in the nest, looking at me, when I go in and out. We normally use the back door as we park off the alley, but still...the mailman must get a fright as it flutters off nearly in his face when he comes up the front steps!
I think your pretty fluffy chicks want their eggs back from that sweet little angel!
Very cute.
I remember as a kid taking a bus to the city. My mom didn't drive at that time. It was fun shopping in those big stores. One store even had an elevator with a person who controlled it. It was so much fun to ride. I'm not much of a mall person! Don't care for it and really I don't even go to the mall.
Lovely graphic! Grabbed that one too!
Bring on the Easter chicks! I love the little darlings.
DEAR HOLLY,
THAT IS WHAT AMY AND I WANTED TO DO AND THAT IS WHY WE BOUGHT OUR OWN MANNEQUIN TO PLAY WITH...CHANGE HER CLOTHES, HER JEWELS, SHE WAS FUN. SOMETIMES DREAMS JUST SORT OF DISSOLE AND NEVER COME TO BE. THE DRESSING OF THE STORE IS THE GREETER OF THE STORE.
THANK YOU FOR THIS MEMORY.
LOVE AND HUGS
DEBBIE