Challenge

Working with long-time client of ours, Liberty, this year’s festive takeover for the department store tasked us with producing 10 magical windows and an awe-inspiring atrium scene, telling the story of the film on everyone’s lips this season, Wicked.

To launch the film in a big way this festive period, we have taken Liberty and Universal’s collaborative vision from production to installation, crafting several scenes from the movie, delving into the world of both main characters, Elphaba and Glinda, as well as creating the renowned Yellow Brick Road and producing a show-stopping, 3.5 metre-tall wizard head, suspended above shoppers in the department store’s atrium.

This spellbinding collaboration challenged us to push the boundaries of storytelling whilst maintaining the heritage and tradition of craft that is inherent to the Liberty brand, with the thread of magic and escapism harmoniously tying everything together.

Solution

Strolling along Great Marlborough Street, passersby are taken on a journey of the story of Wicked, inviting them inside the store to continue their adventure. The windows portray:

• The Marvellous Land of Oz: A diorama sets the scene, overlooking the whole of Oz with skilled carpentry and scenic painting framing the landscape like a portal from the streets of London into Oz.
• Elphaba’s world: Introducing the character of Elphaba, a set of three windows unpacks elements including: The Grimmerie, an otherworldly spellbook and prop from the movie itself; the University of Shiz, a grand scene with elegant faux-brick work; and the train to the Emerald City, complete with Elphaba’s hat.

• Glinda’s world: Elphaba’s story is juxtaposed by the pink and the pretty as passersby move on to explore the world of Glinda the Good, including: A glass wand, a prop from the movie suspended in a bubble-like pod; a tiara, sitting on a quilted bed with a faux-suitcase scene; and the Shiz Library, a rotating home for Glinda’s handbound books.
• The Shiz Forest: As the two worlds collide, StudioXAG have crafted a scene filled with foliage and faux-floral creations, blending seamlessly in an Emerald City-framing forest.

• The Yellow Brick Road: Crafted with scenic trickery to appear 3D and spiralling, visitors will fall deeper and deeper into the story as they are then drawn inside to meet the wizard.

Entering the store, visitors are met by the seemingly all-powerful Wizard of Oz, a supersized head hand carved and scenic painted by the StudioXAG team and suspended high above shoppers.

Discover the windows and atrium for yourself until the 2nd January 2025.