I may be reading too much into the holiday-season windows of this Vince boutique on Madison Avenue when I say that they immediately remind me of Minimalist artist Dan Flavin’s series Monument for V. Tatlin (1969-70).
Flavin’s sculptures in this series were made entirely from prefabricated fluorescent lighting tubes.
The series was a (semi-humorous) homage to Vladimir Tatlin’s design for an impossibly high and complex tower that would serve as a monument to the Communist International organization (1919-20). Some of Flavin’s neon arrangements referred to the shapes of that never-built monument, and others were simply abstract shapes.
Were Vince’s visual merchandising experts aware of Flavin’s work and its implications about art and history? Were they trying to suggest an abstract menorah? Or did they just want to come up with a window display that was illuminated and modern (and not too expensive to execute)? Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve never even been inside a Vince shop.
Images: Vince photo by Tinsel Creation; Dan Flavin photos/works courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art and Phillips.
TINSEL CREATION 
HAH! Well, you could certainly do a lot worse than rip off Dan Flavin. And I wouldn’t be too surprised if it were a conscious… well, let’s call it a “reference,” shall we?
I love Vince. They do very sleek, minimal, New York-ish stuff in mostly neutrals. Their t-shirts are divine. Good building block pieces of excellent quality.
I somehow assume that they have lots of pants, which I don’t wear, and their style looks a bit too hard-edged for me… but I’m always in search of little black jackets and simple black dresses, so maybe I’ll check them out one of these days!
Sounds like everything Vince does is strategic. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-22/the-anonymous-fashion-line-that-s-cleaning-up-on-wall-street
Hm, interesting… one thing in their favor (imho): no logos!