“Let’s light it up!” the actress Jennifer Lawrence said on Monday night as she helped to reveal the holiday windows and kick off the annual lights show at Saks Fifth Avenue.
As is tradition, onlookers crammed behind barricades near 50th Street as performers — in this case from the Martha Graham Dance Company — flooded Fifth Avenue. Behind them, nearly 300,000 lights illuminated what is described as a “wheel of fortune” installation, which covered 10 stories of the Saks Fifth Avenue New York flagship facade. The wheel is adorned with zodiac signs and decorated with symbols related to the Dior brand, like the star and flowers (for Christian Dior’s love of gardens).
Ms. Lawrence, a longtime Dior ambassador, gathered alongside other actresses, including Tracee Ellis Ross, Rachel Zegler, Ashley Park, Alexandra Daddario, Lola Tung and Maya Hawke. They packed onto bleachers across the street for the show, which included fireworks launched from the roof of the department store.
The traditional and ornate holiday windows, a marketing stalwart that R.H. Macy has been credited with originating in 1874, are part of a storied tradition in New York City that has declined in recent years as department stores have closed or moved away from the practice.
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Saks Fifth Avenue
This year, the window displays at Saks explore Mr. Dior’s first visit to the United States and New York, in 1947, a trip that ignited his fascination with the city.
The collaboration was the first time that Saks had partnered with a luxury fashion house for its holiday display. In the displays, with the theme of “Dior’s Carousel of Dreams at Saks,” miniature figurines of Mr. Dior, who died in 1957, are placed in various scenes of the windows along Fifth Avenue.
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