Charlotte Gastaut Takes Over Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue is synonymous with decadent window displays and storefront designs that celebrate various seasons and occasions. For many, these artfully curated campaigns are as much a part of their experience on the avenue as the shopping itself. In this spirit, the opulent thoroughfare recently reintroduced a beloved seasonal spectacle with the help of Van Cleef & Arpels and acclaimed French illustrator Charlotte Gastaut. For the month of May, visitors enjoyed Fifth Avenue Blooms, which included a series of ten immersive installations lauding the spring season.

The three-dimensional creations were set up on sidewalks from 50th to 59th Street, including arches, benches, live plants, and eye-popping illustrations by Gastaut. Visitors were encouraged to take a brief respite from the bustle of the city by relaxing on the benches, enjoying the flowers, and marveling at her multidimensional designs. They also enjoyed special spring-themed perks in various businesses along the avenue, as well as live music and children's activities on select weekends.

Following a tumultuous year due to the pandemic, the Fifth Avenue Association began Fifth Avenue Blooms in 2021 as a way to further beautify its streets and celebrate all the enchanting elements of spring. They first partnered with luxury jewelry brand Van Cleef & Arpels for their 2022 series, which included sketches by artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet featured on fourteen vividly colored sculptures.

This year, the jewelry house once again scattered brightly colored installations along the iconic avenue, punctuating the rows of chic retailers with pops of color, courtesy of Gastaut's graphics. Within them, butterflies, birds, and towering pastel blooms were backdropped by rolling bright green foliage.

Flora, fauna, and other natural elements feature heavily in Gastaut's striking illustrations, which have been showcased in her many books as well as several fashion collaborations. "For the children, my first audience, it's important for them to see nature every time in each book—I always do nature everywhere," she says in regard to the many nature-related aspects in her work. "And so for Fifth Avenue Blooms, for me it was a dream because it's all what I love."

This is not the first time that the venerated jewelry brand has partnered with Gastaut. When asked about her relationship with the brand, she calls their work "more than a collaboration," and emphasizes the creative freedom they’ve allowed her. In 2021, she worked on Van Cleef & Arpels's Enchanting Garden exhibition in Hong Kong's Pedder Building, which welcomed visitors to wander through an illustrated forest setting and marvel at the brand's many pieces inspired by various natural elements.

When visitors encountered her designs for Fifth Avenue Blooms, Gastaut says that she hopes they felt joy. "Joy for being in a town like New York City on Fifth Avenue, crowded with all these beautiful boutiques everywhere, and to just have a little time with flowers," she explains. "To have the time to sit down, to look at the sky, to look at the flowers...and just see Fifth Avenue another way—a more natural way."

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