'On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree' - the familiar lyrics of a Christmas classic that is sure to evoke memories of turkey dinners, roasted chestnuts, and impassioned letters being sent to the North Pole.
Now, for those walking (and panic shopping) their way up Grafton Street this festive season, the song will transport them to the glamorous party taking place in the Brown Thomas Christmas window.
This year's lavish dressing, based on the feather-filled song, was orchestrated by Darren Feeny, Head of Art Direction & Creative at Brown Thomas.
As we squeeze our way through the beautifully decorated windows, carefully stepping between geese eggs, French hens, calling birds and a patridge in a pear tree, we are introduced to the most fashionable mannequins in the country. Their wigs are custom made, their make-up applied in Barcelona, and their outfits the crème de la crème of the luxury store.
"We’ll have the most beautiful Richard Quinn… it’s nearly like a wedding dress with jewels all over it and crystals. It’s a 1930s tea-length dress with white and gold beading all over it. It’s absolutely outstanding."
Inspired by The 12 Days of Christmas, and influenced by the vast manor in Barry Keoghan's recent hit film, Saltburn, Feeney has created a party that is as decadent as it is detailed, with the frames surrounding each scene illustrated by Irish illustrator and tattoo artist Cat Gavin.
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"The piece I worked on with Brown Thomas was an amazing opportunity to work completely by hand," Cat says. "The medium was pencil, ink, water-soluable pastels."
"What I really enjoyed about working on the project is that Brown Thomas gave me so much creative freedom with the brief and it was fun to be able to explore the lyrics of the song in a way where I could include a playfulness and incorporate my style into it."
"Peppered throughout the piece, you're going to see nods to the lyrics that are really straight forward in terms of being quite literal - partridges in pear trees - but I wove in a few nods to the area that it's set in.
"You'll see up the top that there's ornate features inspired by my favourite Dublin street lights and I also included some features like the lantern that is on the left of the arches. That's inspired by the five lamps. Any way I could include the locality within my work, I jumped at the chance to do it."
Continuing our tour, Feeney explains how the scenes were carefully curated to feature designs from both homegrown and international talent.
"This window will be our 'swans a swimming’ so we have another headpiece from Michelle Kearns and we’ll have plenty of decorations," he says. "The next half [of the window] is our milkmaids, so we’ll actually have a cow popping through the curtain and we’ve got milk buckets and bells. We’ve also got Waterford Crystal and Louboutins featured – it’s kind of a gifting table of splendour."
"We have a ‘Ladies Dancing’ window, which again, will be gifting window. We wanted to be playful with our ‘Pipers Piping’," he adds, walking us through a display featuring a Marie Antoinette-inspired mannequin bursting through a bespoke cake.
Although it has been in the works since last December, Feeney says that he and his team had just 10 days to pull off the execution. In fact, as we speak, the diligent team of young creatives are making final adjustments, pinning red velvet covers across drums and straightening designer shoes on the dancing ladies.
"The team have been making this cake since Saturday; it’s been a huge undertaking but with Polyfilla, not icing," he laughs. "They look amazing and are hand-crafted. We’ll also have some classic pipes in the section, and we have the mannequin with the piping bag."
"We then have our ‘Drummers Drumming’, so we have costumes from The Abbey to add some layers to that. Then we’ve got her [a mannequin] in her Loewe perfect Christmas dress – Mariah Carey has already worn it!"
"We have some Rebecca Vallance – an Australian designer – by the cakes. We’ll have a drum kit and, again, Michelle [Kearns] made some hats for us as well. So, that’s the whistle tour stop!"
When we return on Monday evening, the intricate windows have been unveiled, glittering at passers-by who stop in their tracks to take photos, while little girls attempt to copy the mannequins' impressive poses.
The delight from the public is clear. For Feeney, though, the true mark of approval came from a rogue pair of swans that appeared on Grafton Street - perhaps stopping by to take in the feathered display.
To see a behind the scenes snapshot of the festive display, watch the video above.
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