Carnaby is world famous for its iconic Christmas installations and this year Carnaby welcomes the world with an immersive display which will be illuminated from 8th November.
Since 1997 Carnaby has brought joy to Christmas shoppers with inventive and magical lights. The streets have seen a variety of themes including an underwater seascape, colourful rainbows, oversized fairy lights, giant snowmen, 60s inflatables, a kaleidoscope of butterflies and collaborations with two of the world’s most famous bands; the Rolling Stones and Queen.
This year Carnaby will celebrate those iconic moments from the past 25 years to create a breath-taking medley of the most coveted pieces. Throughout Carnaby, visitors will see an exciting element of historic installations incorporating 14 different themes. Features include neon lyrics from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, glittering Rolling Stones tongues, fan favourites such as oversized robins, a giant snowman, colourful palm trees from Carnaby Carnival as well as underwater scenes from the unforgettable Under The Sea.
The installation will illuminate Carnaby Street, Foubert’s Place, Ganton Street and Newburgh Street. The iconic Carnaby arches will be adorned with silver shimmer discs embellished with carnival decorations and a dazzling globe will be brought back to celebrate that ‘Carnaby Welcomes The World’.
The project is in collaboration with charity partner Choose Love, to highlight and support the urgent need to raise funds for refugees around the world. Choose Love will have a shop at 15-17 Foubert’s Place selling a collection of limited edition products, along with refugee gifting packages, with a constant stream of celebrity guests popping in to serve customers.
The lights will be switched on 8th November, with a celebration that includes over 100 shops, bars and restaurants coming together for a shopping and dining party. Between 5pm and 9pm visitors can enjoy live music, in-store activations and 20% discounts. Tickets are free at www.carnaby.co.uk/christmas.
Simon Quayle, Shaftesbury Director says: “We are delighted to bring back the best of Carnaby’s Christmas past and to again create an exciting visual display for visitors. Earlier this year we celebrated 25 years since Shaftesbury first invested in Carnaby, and this is a great way to honour this by showing a selection of decorations over the period.
Hopefully visitors will spot one of their own favourites from previous years. Shaftesbury is proud to be working with Choose Love once again as our charity partner, and we are looking forward to highlighting all the amazing work that they do.”
Josie Naughton, Choose Love founder says: “We are so happy to be back with our Carnaby family once again this year! As always, at the Choose Love shop we’ll have lots of lovely Christmas gifts with heart, starting at just £10, and plenty of celebrity friends popping in to help out!”
Dawn O’Porter, Choose Love ambassador says: “Since we started Choose Love 7 years ago, we have loved our annual Christmas pop-ups. We get to meet so many new and old friends and everyone comes together in the most magical way to help make sure we can support refugees and displaced people throughout the winter months. And, of course, the iconic Carnaby street feels like the perfect home for us. We can’t wait to be back there!”