Achieving that while acknowledging and celebrating their 150 year contribution to Dutch culture is an honor and an immense responsibility. It would need to be done in such a way as to highlight its presence as a curator of fashion and lifestyle, avoiding self congratulations or indulgently looking back.
Bijenkorf Celebrating 150 years of the icon in fashion and style
Capturing both the magic and fashion sensibility of de Bijenkorf on any given day is a daunting challenge.
The Challenge
The Approach
De Bijenkorf is a place where everyone can feel individually special. A place where time slows down and everything revolves around you regardless of whether or not you make a purchase. It is an intensely sense based magic, that the captivating powers of film lend themselves well to sharing. However you can not smell, taste, or touch a film. So, we would need a way to trigger those senses while keeping the experience magical and away from the day to day. For this we created an abstract journey through the key pillars of de Bijenkorf.
The Outcome
The film is a theatrical experience in storytelling and art direction, where the central character is pulled from the real world shopping street, through the enchanted window into a magical backstage. As though she is between the walls of this beautiful department store, she races and wanders through an experience driven by style. Fashion, cosmetics, design and food are destinations she passes before arriving, transformed, at the top of this 150 year old icon with the city stretched out before her. Due to the lockdown and ongoing pandemic struggles this film received only one flight on TV, with more planned for coming.
De Bijenkorf has a magical effect on people. For the “150 Years Special” campaign, The Valley has translated that feeling into a modern fairy tale. – Inge Konings, campaign manager de Bijenkorf.
