Something Wicked To Bleecker Street Comes

Every October, I make it a point to take a walk down Bleecker Street and check out the Ralph Lauren stores, which as far as I’m concerned, have some of the best Halloween displays in the city.

Rather than being goofy or gorey or over the top, they’re always done with creativity and great attention to detail. Really dug this year’s one…

…featuring a creepy scarecrow in a corn field (wearing a Ralph Lauren suit stuffed with hay, of course). Sorry for the glare – I love the stalks and pumpkins…

But there’s something especially unsettling about the scarecrow’s face that gives it that special touch. Note the ravens cawing on his shoulders:

There’s another interesting display across the street at the second Ralph Lauren store…

When you first see the window, it feels like a nautical setting – a submarine, perhaps?

A beheaded body (a mannequin, of course) has been stuffed in a tarp and chained to anchor, presumably to be thrown overboard.

Various chains and handcuffs hang from the iron walls…

…while rats and mice run all over the body:

Ha, and unless this is an advertisement for the new line of Ralph Lauren canvas body bags, I really appreciate that the set design came first (though I suppose someone might walk by and notice the scarf).

But what exactly happened here? I might be going out on a limb, but if you look in the next window (again, sorry for the glare), you’ll see a bunch of sailors, some of whom have clearly gone insane.

Some are wielding weapons, while others have been chained up, most likely to meet the same fate as the body in the first window. My thought? Some folks on a sub went a little stir crazy, and we’re seeing the result in mannequin form. Awesome!

Lots of cool little details, like body parts poking out of places…

Love the bloodied fish hook:

More body parts.

Back when I wrote about the window displays in 2009, Ralph Lauren had four stores, each with their own Halloween theme. They’re down to three stores, and the third didn’t have anything going on. But I definitely liked the old-fashioned electric chair across the way, which has apparently reduced its victim to a pair of hands and the clothes he was wearing.

Here’s my Bleecker Street post from 2009 – really can’t beat either the ice-fishing skeletons or the brutal mannequin massacre. Know of a really cool Halloween display in New York this year? Let me know so I can check it out before it’s gone.

-SCOUT