Dressed mannequins and props representing different fashion messages stood inside 18 window displays at the Parker Coliseum for a class project in the visual merchandising and promotion course.The project — designing a store window display to convey a fashion message — allows students to use concepts learned about visual merchandising in class, said Yvonne Leak, course instructor.  “Store window displays are a widely used medium to communicate fashion ideas to consumers,” Leak said. “Students have to come up with a design that looks professional, and the intention is to be able to look at the display and know what the fashion message is right away.”Once students developed a theme and a design promoting a message, the students selected and coordinated merchandise matching the message and promoted it in a visually interesting setting, Leak said.”We have an extensive collection of mannequins and props that students can use, which helps a lot,” Leak said. “I do prefer when things are handmade than bought … just be creative in using the things [students] have.”Leak said students have about four weeks to work on the display in and out of the class. “It’s a lot of work, but students seem to like it because they rate it highly in evaluations,” Leak said. “The displays get better and better every year.”Finding a venue that allows  window displays is the most challenging part for a project like this one, Leak said.”We feel very lucky to be able to use the windows in the Parker Coliseum for this project,” Leak said. Leak said businesses contacted her in the past looking for students to help design window displays for stores, and earlier in the semester, her students participated in a design competition held by a local business. “Some businesses are too busy to keep up with and change displays with fresh ideas, which many students have,” Leak said. “It’s a good opportunity for students with talent and interest in visual merchandising, and I hope it’s a growing field.”Barrett Hutchinson, apparel design junior, said his group chose a color-contrast theme for the display, which consisted of a white background, white furniture and an emerald green evening gown. “I work at BCBG at Perkins Rowe, so we picked out a dress there and let it dictate room design because we didn’t want to pick out the background color and then have to find a dress to match it,” Hutchinson said. “Our display came out exactly like the sketch. The chair in the display even looks exactly like the one in the sketch, which was exciting.” Lauren Haag, apparel design junior, has worked for Leak during the past two years and said this year’s displays look more professional and realistic than displays from previous years.”Seeing all the groups work on the project and seeing my group’s window and creativity … it was a great experience,” Haag said. “I learned about all of the hard work that it takes to come up with an effective window display.”
 
 
 
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