London's best Christmas windows

Harvey Nichols’ 2024 festive window display takes inspiration from the whacky work of Tim Burton – and even features five sculptures from the director’s private collection. One window houses figures including the girl with many eyes, Stainboy and Jimmy, the hideous penguin boy, who all appear in Burton’s poetry book ‘The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories’. If gazing upon this unconventional Christmas fantasyland has you craving more of Burton’s creativity, head to the Design Museum for its ‘World Of Tim Burton’ exhibition – the partner for this year’s showcase.

If you can’t find tinsel, baubles or Christmas lights to decorate your tree with this year, chances are they’re at Selfridges. We don’t mean on its shelves, either. The department store’s Christmas window display for 2024 makes use of five kilometres of garland, 15,000 LED lights and 36,000 baubles. You definitely can’t accuse them of not being in the Christmas spirit. Each window takes inspiration from festive grottos and has been turned into ‘a cave of wonder’, with some featuring giant disco balls, mythical creatures and even live performers.

While we’re all busy worrying about how to make Christmas special for the humans in our lives, Fortnum & Mason have switched their focus to some of the creatures that roam our planet. The store has made a selection of birds and animals the stars of its Christmas window display this year, which boasts a crocodile in a Christmas crown, birds with baubles in their beaks, and mice practicing ballet, among other festive critters.

Harrods’ Yuletide makeover for 2024 comes courtesy of Italian cashmere connoisseurs Loro Piana and its ‘Workshop Of Wonders’. Over the stunning Brompton Road façade, 36 windows, two pop-ups and animations inside the store, the textiles Maison celebrates 100 years of its history and heritage in a way that is both dazzling and thought-provoking. The store’s iconic façade tells the story of fibre as it transforms into cloth and ends up forming a 17-metre Christmas tree, decorated with tons of luxurious fabric and ornaments. Elsewhere, each window adds more tales of materials, communities and landscapes involved in the Loro Piana journey.