1. MARCH 11 2016 / Drapers 27
CAREERS WITH
Interview by ABBY JACKSON
A
lexander Wells-Greco and
his team are responsible
for creating the magical
displays in Harrods’
world-famous windows.
At Harrods, you’re exposed to
every department, so you work on
something different each week. I
have a lot of involvement creatively,
on visual concepts from brief to
final execution. The process is very
collaborative and I have support
from the buying, retail and creative
marketing teams. I have a team of
65 to help execute the visuals – 12
in the windows team alone.
Most schemes occur in a 360
environment, from the in-store
visual merchandising (VM) and
windows to the Harrods magazine,
our website and social media. I
think any sort of successful creative
concept needs to run 360 so the
customer is taken on a journey.
Annually there are three
storewide VM campaigns, which
ALEXANDER
WELLS-GRECO
occur in May, July/August and
Christmas. Tweaks are made to
the interiors on a daily and
weekly basis. We have 70 staff
dedicated to our windows’
visual display. We change the
windows at the front of the
store 10 times a year and the
side windows nine times.
Christmas always stands
out for me as it is naturally the
biggest project we undertake.
We spend a good 11 months
working on the festive concepts and
the display stays up for two months,
slightly longer than normal.
My favourite windows would be
the “Once Upon A Christmas”
2015 themed windows. The big
windows showcased 11 brands with
individual theatre or circus themes.
The idea was to take traditional
themes and present them in a fun,
innovative and engaging manner.
We separated each window into two
scenes – the lower half was designed
to enchant the younger viewer, the
upper half intended for adults. I
particularly loved Bottega Veneta’s
quirky “The World’s Strongest
Man” windows (above right).
The Christmas installation takes
10 nights, but this one was tougher
because of the level of build
needed. We had to dress the bottom
layer of the window from above,
which is quite labour intensive.
The best visual that drove sales
was our “Shoe Heaven” concept in
August 2014 – a storewide shoe
takeover. We clad the interior of our
central lifts with shoes and
surrounded one of the escalators
with 600 shoeboxes. Twenty brands
created exclusive Shoe Heaven
collaboration shoes, which we
showcased in the windows. The
installation took more than a year.
The pop-up exhibition window
space at the front of the store
changes monthly. The installation
period is around three nights and
de-rig is two, which is a sizeable feat.
These exhibition windows are store
fits in the most luxurious setting. We
also introduce in-store pop-ups all
the time, which tend to last for a
month, although the timeframe
is set by the merchandisers and
our fashion directors, Helen David
and Jason Broderick.
I get lots of inspiration from the
brands we have in store. Thom
Browne is super-cool with some
great concepts, as is Tom Ford and
Black Label by Ralph Lauren. From
a womenswear perspective, Stella
McCartney and Valentino are great.
Most of my inspiration comes
from galleries, art and music. I
regularly visit the Guggenheim in
New York, and in London Tate
Modern and the Design Museum.
Over the Christmas period I visited
a wonderful exhibition by Alberto
Burri at the Guggenheim, the layout
of which took the visitor on a
creative journey, all the way down
to the detail of how the images are
framed. To me it’s the layout more
than anything that inspires. A lot of
designers look to see what other
brands are doing, but the key thing
at Harrods is that we want to do
something no one has seen before.
Travel is also a great source of
inspiration. Over the past 14 years
I’ve lived in London, Milan, Venice,
New York and Shanghai. In January
2013 I moved to Shanghai to work
as a country visual merchandising
manager for Prada. I was
responsible for all stores across
China, which meant I travelled
non-stop. It was amazing to see how
the Chinese consumer shopped and
to be part of the brand’s evolution. I
like to think I know how to cater to
an international customer.
E D U CAT I O N
2000-2004 BA (Hons) in
Italian and Design at
University College London
and Il Politecnico di Milano
CA R E E R
March2014-date Head of
visual merchandising,
Harrods, London
January2013-March2014
Country VM manager, Prada,
Shanghai, China
September2009-January
2013 Head of visual
merchandising and display,
Harrods, London
August2007-August2009
Luxury flagship visual
merchandiser, Polo Ralph
Lauren, London
September2005-August
2007General manager of
visuals, Abercrombie & Fitch,
London
Myothercareer would
have been an art curator in a
museum or gallery working
internationally. Working in an
exhibition space is still very
varied and constantly evolves.
To feature on this page email
charlotte.rogers@emap.com
Headof visualmerchandising,Harrods