Even as we dive headlong into 2009, I still just had to squeeze in a word on these quite lovely window displays by Nendo for the Italian luxury leather brand Tod’s. ”Bringing a Christmas spirit out of the wintry darkness”, the Japanese designer happily shirks the classic yuletide mantle in favour of an utterly compelling nightsky blue. Dead simple display cases made from light-reflective panels, specially printed with stars and snowflakes, are sweet and disarming, having something of the fascination one feels peering into a dolls’ house. Nendo gets the balance just right between a big first impression, even (or maybe especially) from a distance, and leaving room for the bags and boots to take over and shine (literally), once our potential punter is at close range on the other side of the glass. And how he does it, for me, is all down to the perfect shade of BLUE.