Christmas is coming: Fortnum & Mason unveils dazzling festive window

Fortnums opted for a healing theme of 'togetherness' for its Christmas display

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Getting along: a polar bear and a penguin share a window in Fortnum & Mason

Chris Gorman

Amira Hashish3 November 2016

London's build-up to Christmas went up a gear today as one of its oldest and biggest department stores unveiled a spectacular window display.

At 306-year-old Fortnum & Mason, a healing theme of “togetherness” runs through the eight windows on its Piccadilly frontage.

Bosses said they hoped the displays would inspire people to put aside their differences following the bitterness of the Brexit referendum and the US presidential battle.

The windows depict eight stories in which pairs of characters usually divided by geography, time or mutual antipathy are brought together for Christmas. They include The Bull and The China, The Butcher and The Turkey, The Polar Bear and The Penguin, The Wolf and The Sheep, and The Boy and The Brussel Sprouts. In the atrium, a display shows a giant sun and moon in a tender embrace.

Each story in the “Together We’re Merrier” theme was illustrated by artist Brett Ryder and hand-crafted into 3D window displays. Festive workshops and events are also being held and unusual food pairings highlighted at the counters.

Zia Zareem-Slade, Fortnum’s customer experience director, said: “It’s a time of togetherness and celebration and in the current climate, we felt this message was never more relevant.”