LONDON'S LESSER LIGHTS

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

COMPARED TO THE MAGNIFICENCE OF HARRODS' WINDOWS WHICH MUST HAVE COST AN ARM AND LEG, OTHER DEPARTMENT STORES HAVE PERHAPS GIVEN UP ALL ATTEMPTS TO CHALLENGE HARRODS' DOMINANCE AND HAVE JUST THROWN IN THE TOWEL.

HARVEY NICHOLS, CONSIDERED EITHER HARRODS' POOR COUSIN OR THE STORE FOR THE YOUNG, HIP AND HAPPENING, HAS CHOSEN A RATHER BIZARRE WINDOW THEME. INSTEAD OF THE USUAL SEASONAL PLATITUDES LIKE 'WHITE XMAS' OR 'SALUTE SANTA' OR EVEN 'COOL YULE TO U', IT IS SIMPLY ANNOUNCING A GRAB-YOU-BY-THE-JUGULAR SLOGAN OF 'UP TO 30% DISCOUNT' AS ITS THEME!

Well, no one is complaining over the discount, unromantic as it seems.

Selfridges the grand dame of Oxford Street is also rather lowkey this year and the white on white theme does little to rattle your nerves or take your breath away. Debenhams is also so-so and Forever 21, newly opened, is also straightforward. As for Primark the lowest priced department store, they appear to have abandoned Christmas altogether since sales are so good with or without Santa Claus. Mind you, Atika the Malaysian Ford Supermodel paid L1 (R 5) for 2 pairs of gloves and gave a pair to me. Alas, within 2 days a gaping hole appeared inbetween my forefinger and middle finger in the woolen glove so the cheapest is not always the longest lasting!

Even the street lights are nothing to shout about! Usually Oxford and Regent Streets boast stunning displays of street lights with special themes but this year they look pretty tired and identikit to previous years like your Xmas tree taken out from storage and reused year after year. Well, times are bad so let us not scrooge about nitty-gritties and may we all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and remember how baby Jesus was born in a manger 2,011 years ago to the blessed Virgin Mary and Father Joseph.

BELOW ARE THE LESSER LIGHTS OF LONDON!

These are Selfridges's windows;

















St Christopher's Place, off Oxford Street


Forever 21





South Molton Street


Exhausted shopper in Primark

Atika and Alex Quay in Primark


Harvey Nichols's windows seem to feature dust pans and trash bins and lowly household utensils

Not the height of glam as trash bags really lack that X factor

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST AS HARVEY NICHOLS ALSO FLAUNT SOME GLAM FASHIONS THOUGH TO ME , THEY ARE NOT IN THE SAME ILK AS HARRODS WHICH WINS HANDS DOWN. THERE ARE TONS OF FAB FASHIONS INSIDE HARVEY NICHOLS BUT STRANGELY THE ONES DISPLAYED IN THEIR WINDOWS ARE BIT HO-HUM
BUT HERE THEY ARE...













MERRY CHRISTMAS AND REMEMBER JESUS WAS BORN ON 25 DECEMBER 0000AD