Store of the Week: Banana Republic Regent Street

What is it about animals that makes them immediately acceptable as props in a window display? The answer is that there is probably something of the pet-owner in all of us, and if they are on view in a non-threatening stylised form, then what’s not to like?

For an example of this in action, look no further than Banana Republic on Regent Street, which has opted to make dogs, of various shapes and sizes, the centrepiece of its current window scheme.

These animals are not piebald, tri-colour or spotty. In spite of their differing sizes and breeds (you find yourself trying to work out what each of them is) they are all chino-esque in hue. And this is rather the point: these windows are supposed to extol the merits of life in chinos, providing a call to action for shoppers to consider the onset of spring.

Interestingly, however, the gaze tends to focus on the dogs rather than the clothes. It is also pertinent to remark that these cloth and straw dogs have heads whereas the mannequins holding the animals’ leashes do not. They demand attention.

Taking a dog for a walk in the park while sporting crop-leg chinos is an unusual take on the season of renewal, but it is certainly eye-catching and Regent Street shoppers were stopping to take a look.

And there is also a measure of control about the fact that all of the dogs are on the lead. The scheme is an exercise in restraint in which a preppy product-specific ambience is created. It works.