Trends

Although the variety of different window displays and in store environments was huge in New York, there were some trends that we noticed. Twigs & branches were very popular for displays & presenting products on such as, hanging jewellery from. This natural theme also continued with a heavy use of flowers & petals in many of the shop windows.

These were the main trends we saw in visual merchandising-

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The Last Day

After packing & sadly checking out of our rooms in the Wolcott Hotel we had one last day to enjoy in New York. It was absolutely freezing that day & after finishing buying our souvenirs & browsing round Bloomingdales & the most amazing sweet shop we sat down again in the Cinema restaurant for a repeat of the delicious lunch we had on the first day. On our way there we actually saw someone famous!!...well the girls did... whilst I just stared into space oblivious to one of the actors from Ugly Betty strolling right past us. Typical! We spent hours in Cinema chatting & drinking homemade lemonade & spending all our last bits of money. We then set off from the hotel at 5 & the whole of our seminar group sat & chatted in the airport.

I slept the whole plane journey & coach journey & then we arrived back in a chilly Nottingham. I got to see all my lovely Gill street E blockers & within a couple of hours I was drunk in EQ… VERY jetlagged but still smiling :)

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Day 3

Sadly, it was our last full day in New York and it had gone far too quickly! We all wanted to buy millions of souvenirs  to remember our amazing time in New York so we spent the morning collecting everything we could find to remind us of our trip :) We also wanted to stock up on new clothes so we went to Forever 21 & a few of the other shops close to the hotel & spent far too much money! We then took a taxi Downton & got on the South Ferry Terminal to go across to view the Statue of Liberty. We were a little disappointed as we all thought the ferry took us to Ellis Island but quickly realised we were actually going to Staten Island when the ferry just kept on going past the Statue of Liberty...
After we’d finished there we went to view Ground Zero. There was building work going on at the time & so we couldn't see much, but it was still shocking to actually be there where it all happened.

After we were finished roaming around downtown we all then went back to the hotel & got ready to go out for a meal in Times Square. This time we went to Planet Hollywood & ate our body weight in chips & burgers & brownies which was delicious! It was a lovely last night in New York :)

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Day 2

We all woke up to very VERY sore muscles. Shopping is challenging stuff! We wanted to spent the day downtown, so, after our coffee & muffins we headed out into the freezing cold weather & made our way into Soho.

After I had attempted to read a map & give everyone directions, we got very lost & I got banned from map reading. Trust us, to actually end up in the real Meat Packing District… there was meat everywhere. It was definitely not where Whitney from The City hangs out!

After trying to find Comme Des Garcons & walking past it numerous times we finally realised it was very well disguised & we had been in the right place all along. After having a look around there we came across Chelsea Market which we all fell in love with. It was full of rustic, homely shops & amazing bakeries & Delicatessens. I could have spent hours in there & after a good browse around we continued our way into Soho. Here, I fell in love with Anthropologie. I adored everything in there- it is officially my favourite shop. The vintage shops were all incredible in Soho too but sadly they were just a little bit out of our price range. We spent the night eating incredible pizzas in Little Italy in a restaurant called Bombardi’s & then went up the Rockefeller & looked at New York at night which was stunning.

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Day 1

We started the morning with muffins & coffee- yum! Then we headed out for our first day exploring New York. First of all, we went to Fashion Institute of Technology Museum to look through their collections where I fell absolutely in love with the Halston American Beauty Rose gown & now want it A LOT.

We then headed uptown where we saw some incredible shop windows & visual merch&ising techniques. Abercrombie & Fitch had one of the best in store environments & no, it was nothing to do with the half naked men & gorgeous smelling aftershave all over the shop :) the loud music & friendly laidback atmosphere was also pretty individual. We all got attacked with perfume samples in Saks & also got talking to one of the guys who worked there who gave us a few places to head to downtown. We then spent the rest of the day trekking up & down 5th avenue entering every shop we could see & ate an amazing lunch in a little restaurant called Cinema.

That night we headed to Times Square & had tea in the Hard Rock Café whilst desperately hoping…& failing to see someone famous. After that, I collapsed into bed.

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Back Home in Nottingham

I'm back from New York now & had the most amazing time whilst I was there! The next few posts are going to give you an idea of what I got up to in the Big Apple...

After dragging my suitcase down a snowy & very slippy hill we finally set off & started our journey (in a very sleepy state) to New York. The plane journey went pretty quickly due to the huge list of films available to watch along with the choc ices & gu brownies. The only problem was the constant pins & needles shooting down my legs (they are definitely too long for the plane seats). I’m sure it could have been even quicker had I known then about the FREE wine available…

& then we arrived. Excited doesn’t even begin to explain the feeling! However, due to the ridiculous levels of tiredness amongst Me, Hannah, Ashlee & Georgia we admittedly ended up in Macdonalds & then about an hour later…in bed.

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6th January 4.50am

O my god I'm tired!! But I'm all packed & ready to go.

The snow isn't much worse than before and there is no news on the flight being delayed yet... fingers crossed :)

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1 More Sleep

I am sat in my lovely room in Gill Street so ridiculously excited that i can't sit still! Today has been complete and utter chaos...

I woke up to about one million inches of snow in my garden & turned on the radio to hear about Manchester airport being shut & all Leeds flights being delayed and had a small panic attack! But the determination got me through & I packed up the ten tonnes of things I brought home with me (pointlessly) as well as all my new christmas things to head back up to Nottingham. When the car was finally loaded up (my dad definitely could not see out the back windscreen, i was squished into the door & my mum had about one hundred dresses on her knee) we set off in the snow, all questioning whether it was a very safe idea... but hey, New York was calling.

We finally made it though and I am now all unpacked... at last. It's sooo quiet here it's freaking me out & there is a buzzing noise coming from the corridor that's worrying me but i am too cosy to move. I think I am finally organised- there are lists all over my room as I am possibly the most forgetful, unorganised person that ever existed! My gorgeous New York calender pinned up on my wall is making me smile :)

I am hoping that at 5.30 in the morning no one is expecting me to look nice! The struggle of getting the suitcase down the stairs then me & Ashlee attempting to wheel them through the snow & down the hill to the coach is a whole different problem... I'll let you know how it goes.

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Ridiculous Levels of Excitement

The impatience of waiting for New York has finally got to me- tomorrow is the big day & the excitement has become unbearable! No longer can I wait until I am in New York to see what is in the shops- for the past week I have found myself constantly browsing through the internet on US shopping websites.
However, this New York obsession has given me some insight into what to expect when I’m shopping in the Big Apple. As well as browsing the shops’ websites I have been looking at trend prediction articles to give me some ideas about what I am likely to see in the millions of shops I plan to visit. I can just imagine on the way home that my suitcase is going to be packed full with just a few of these items…

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Itinerary for New York

- a brief guide to what I will be up to in New York

Day 0 - Wednesday 06/01/10
17:05 Arrive at hotel
18:00 Quick Midtown orientation
Day 1 - Thursday 07/01/10
10:00 Meet at the Museum of The Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT)
12:00-20:00 Midtown / Fifth Avenue
Day 2 - Friday 08/01/10
10:00-20:00 Uptown, Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller
Day 3 – Saturday 09/01/10
10:00-20:00 Downtown, SoHo, Broadway
Day 4 – Sunday 10/01/10
10:00-17:00 Final Retail research opportunity
17:30 Coach leaves for Airport
Day 5 - Monday 11/01/10
14:30 approx Arrive in Nottingham

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