Haute 5 Holiday Windows: A Very Merry Manhattan

Saks 5^th Avenue, 611 Fifth Avenue

At the time of writing, Saks’ display was the only one to already have a roped off line of eager viewers. This year, the store’s signature mechanical dolls narrate the original story of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Flake” written by Mike Reiss.

Each window follows an episode in the adventures of a snowflake named Twinkle who goes on a sort of Manhattan holiday shopping adventure. Twinkle travels past flying cows, ice skating penguins and a colorful group of New Yorkers (Where did that cowboy come from? Williamsburg?) but I won’t say anymore lest I ruin the story’s dramatic conclusion.

“Twinkle, Twinkle…” is narrated on audio track as well, which is quite difficult to hear among the crowds and traffic. But the elegant storybook quality of Saks’ windows featureas a unique simplicity, not found in the other windows (though there was still a more restrained dose of the requisite glitter). A group of Upper East Side parents who came to see the windows seemed more excited than their preschool-aged children. But who can blame them? They have dancing frog princesses and rats that make crème brûlée– what’s so cool about a mechanical snowflake?