I'm Craving Anthropologie

The new Anthropologie catalog came in the mail yesterday. It's the next best thing to walking through one of their FAB stores, but once finished with 25 pages I tend to have an insatiable urge to get in the car and drive to downtown Seattle to the store. (Hmmmmnnn...I guess that's exactly what they WANT me to do, isn't it?!)

I've dished before on how I find this retailer to be a great example of innovative display ideas. Take a look at these photos and you'll see what I mean... like those two up there at the top. Aprons are hot, we all know that. And putting them on a clothesline or tying them to a tall ladder leaned against the wall are great ideas that we see all the time. Putting them on classical, refined statues is different. It grabs your eye because something is just a bit 'off'...classical & kitschy together? A mesh plate screen worn as a hat? Yet it works! Statues or busts of any scale are great display props for hats, scarves, jewelry, belts, and purses, as well.

This topiary decorated with dishes is another innovative application. Sure we've seen ornaments on trees. We've seen nests, birdhouses, and signs on trees. But plates & cups? It gets the product up high for visibility - remember to use that vertical space! These are melamine plates, so likely they used peel n' stick hangers on the backs and wired them to the tree. Simple. All the plates have floral motifs, did you notice that? So they took the plant idea to it's 'Nth' degree and created a bloomin' tree. Cute!

I thought this one was a stroke of brilliance. Displaying bed linens is the bane of retailers with small spaces. Yes, there is always the tried-and-true method of setting up a twin bed as a 'short', using a crib mattress turned sideways between the head & foot boards. But sometimes the pattern is so gorgeous (like these) that you have to show the whole thing off. By using lightweight (ahem - cheap & crummy) mattresses and pinning the linens to them, then tying them with twine and ribbon and belts, they were able to lean them upright against the walls for major impact. (In a store, you'd need to run wire thru the top edge of the mattress, and attach it to a hook in the wall to prevent it from tumbling over.) And did you notice the metal bedframe, sans mattress, filled with grasses & blossoms? A flower bed. Yup!

I know you are busy retailers, with a million things to do, You are probably thinking you don't have time to go comp-shop other stores for ideas. Thing is, you don't have to - sometimes, those ideas come right to your doorstep!

Inspiration is all around us...all we have to do is notice.
(I stole that from the film 'August Rush', where the quote is actually "The music is all around us. All we have to do is listen." The first song you hear on my playlist here is 'August's Rhapsody' from the soundtrack. )

Image credits: Anthropologie catalog. Products available at www.anthropologie.com
For more Anthropologie Inspiration, visit http://cravinganthropologie.blogspot.com/!