SyncVib

Time to deck the halls!

It’s the holiday season, and New York City’s stores are getting all spruced up with window displays that attract locals and tourists alike.

But for major department stores, the festive season actually never ends. Once the merry and bright décor is unveiled to the public, designers immediately start to brainstorm the theme for next year’s displays.

“We never stop working on Christmas. We work on it all year,” David Hoey, senior director of visual presentation for Bergdorf Goodman, told The Post.

“We start thinking about holiday windows when the holiday’s already in. That’s when you get your best ideas, because you’re in a holiday mood.”

This year’s windows are sure to put revelers in the holiday spirit as one display includes 9.5 million lights while others have a hot-air balloon and even a chocolate fountain.

Saks Fifth Avenue

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Saks and Dior partnered for this year’s campaign, “Dior’s Carousel of Dreams at Saks” — which they’re calling the “most ambitious holiday windows and light show in Saks Fifth Avenue history.”

The iconic windows portray Monsieur Dior’s dream journey from Paris to Saks’ hometown of New York City, featuring scenes and landmarks from both cities — including a miniature Saks Fifth Avenue building, Andrew Winton, SVP of Creative at Saks, told The Post.

“What makes this so unique is that the installation is not a screen — it’s a masterfully crafted sculpture that seems to magically come to life,” Winton said.

The light show, featuring nearly 300,000 LED lights and a medley of songs, runs daily from Nov. 21 through Jan. 5, 2024, every 10 minutes between 4:35 and 10:35 p.m., lasting three minutes and 30 seconds.

Winton added, “Together, the windows and light show make for an awe-inspiring experience that we hope will bring the spirit of the season to life for New Yorkers and visitors from around the world. It’s an incredible collaboration between Saks and Dior, two iconic names in luxury fashion from two iconic cities.”

Fifth Avenue and 50th Street

Nordstrom

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Nordstrom is going “Home for the Holidays,” celebrating with loved ones and embracing traditions.

“We have long celebrated the tradition of holiday decorations as part of our brand expression. We work hard to make sure our décor feels festive, modern yet traditional, and inclusive — no matter how you celebrate the season,” Paige Boggs, vice president of store environment at Nordstrom, told The Post.

Decorations will be bright and sparkly, including 95,000 strings of twinkling holiday lights — with each string 50 feet long and 100 lights on each, that’s 9.5 million lights.

“If you put the strings end to end it would be 4,750,000 feet or 900 miles (about the distance from New York City to Jacksonville, Florida),” Boggs said.

There will be 45,000 strings of giant colored lights at 10 feet long with eight bulbs on each (60,000 lights). End to end, the strings would be about 85 miles and could wrap around the perimeter of Manhattan over 2.5 times.

The 3,900 garlands would be 39,000 feet end to end — about the cruising altitude of a commercial jet.

“We really get into it!” Boggs exclaimed.

“We hope to create a home away from home for our customers and inspire them for the season. We know the holidays can be a stressful time for many of our customers, and we hope to create a fun and festive shopping experience for them,” she added.

225 W. 57th St.

Bergdorf Goodman

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This year, Bergdorf is celebrating “all things bright and beautiful” with its “Isn’t it Brilliant” campaign.

There are seven major window displays, each with a “different kind of brightness.” One contains six neon signs custom-made for the display.

Hoey, who has been overseeing the windows at Bergdorf since 2006, quipped that “it looks like somebody collected a bunch of incredible neon signs and lent it to us.”

Another window features “shiny and fabulous” giant Christmas ornaments, and yet another is made up of mirror pieces. Hoey and the team at Bergdorf hope to surprise people and “create a little bit of holiday awe.”

Hoey said that every year the Bergdorf team hopes to top themselves and for the public to love and appreciate the results of their work as much as they do.

When asked what he wants people to take away from the displays, Hoey replied with one word: “Uplift.”

“That’s enough isn’t it? That’s it in a nutshell,” he laughed.

754 Fifth Ave., corner of 58th & 5th

Bloomingdale’s

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For its 92nd year of presenting holiday window displays, Bloomingdale’s is celebrating the “Best Holiday Ever” with The Carousel @ Bloomingdale’s: Wonka — inspired by the new film “Wonka” and presented in collaboration with Warner Bros.

John Klimkowski, senior director of visual merchandising for Bloomingdale’s, told The Post that candy was the “key inspiration” for the “pure imagination” seen in the window’s creative direction.

“Just imagine if you could grow your hair by simply eating a chocolate called ‘Hair Repair Éclair,’ or float in space by eating a candy called ‘Hoverchoc,'” he said.

Passersby can expect to see a chocolate fountain, trapeze movements and costumes designed by local costume designers from Broadway.

This year, the store partnered with Amber Ruffin, co-writer of Broadway’s “Some Like It Hot” and writer of a new version of “The Wiz,” as well as with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Ruffin, who hosted the unveiling, said, “Bloomingdale’s and Broadway are quintessential New York and it’s so exciting to see the two come together to kick off the holidays. We are going to have performances like no other right on Lexington Ave. for the windows and then throughout the store following the unveiling — the perfect way to welcome the season of magic!”

Lexington Avenue and 59th Street

Hudson Yards

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Hudson Yards is back with “Shine Bright” for its third season since launching in 2020.

“When we first came up with the concept, the true intention was to bring that warm feeling of joy and togetherness the holiday conveys while creating a new tradition,” Stephanie Fink, senior vice president of marketing, partnership and events for Hudson Yards, told The Post.

Hudson Yards will have a 32-foot hot air balloon centerpiece to convey a “sense of wonder” and promote “a larger sense of exploration and discovery.”

“Hot air balloons symbolize a lightness often garnered from an aerial perspective. As we drift off into the holiday season, there is a light, celebratory mood captured by the adventurousness of a hot-air balloon journey,” Fink said.

The hot-air balloon centerpiece is installed by a massive lift and suspended from hang points and a trussing system. The piece, and other elements of the display, are built overseas and shipped.

20 Hudson Yards, at 33rd Street and 10th Avenue

Macy’s

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Macy’s theme of “Give Love” is centered on its lovable reindeer, Tiptoe, celebrating the holidays with her friends, Polar Bear and Penguin. Tiptoe has been a signature character for the store since her debut at the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The windows feature holiday favorites, such as trimmed and decorated trees, giant displays of ornaments, an advent calendar, a candy carousel and a giant piano.

All windows are 3D sculptures made of acrylic and mirrored materials and individually hand-painted. There are interactive windows with lights, face filters, ornament windows, piano buttons and karaoke.

“We try to create a lot of interactive moments so the customer can take something away with them and they see themselves in the windows as well,” Manny Urquizo, the director of storewide visual campaigns and windows at Macy’s, told The Post.

He added, “We want to create a memory that our customers can take away and make them want to come back to Macy’s.”

34th Street at Herald Square

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