My New York City “Alice Through the Looking Glass” of Bergdorf Goodman adventure

Since I was a child "Alice in Wonderland" was one of my favorite books. In fact, I reread the book about a year ago before the Alice craze hit again.  I was thrilled with SyFy’s interpretation of Alice’s story using contemporary elements with some subtle hints of the original story.  My favorites were: The Cheshire smile of Alice’s cat Dinah, the White Rabbit’s long white low hanging ponytails representing the rabbit ears and The Pink Flamingo flying scooters.  Of course, their version is not for a book purist. I’m sure I’ll be one of the first people in line to see how Tim Burton’s vision of the story line and the character’s visual interpretation.

The books are full of interesting trivia and caused some controversy. It’s been widely argued if Lewis Carrol was on mind-altering drugs while writing Alice’s adventure stories since their full of drug usage innuendos like eating magic mushrooms and hukka smoking. Although, there is no proof whether or not the author was using drugs while writing but one can argue that the books follow a cohesive story which is unlikely for someone who’s high. In 1931 the Alice books were banned in Hunan Provence on the grounds that “animals shouldn’t use human language” and it’d be “disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level” (The File Room)

Not many people know that original Alice was based on a real little girl who Lewis met on a boat trip. Original illustration by John Tenniel ­had Alice’s dress drawn in a variety of colors, usually red or yellow and she was a brunette. Alice’s recognizable blue dress and blond hair were introduced by the animated Walt Disney’s version in 1951 and that how we know her now.

Here is my New York City “Alice through the Looking Glass” of Bergdorf Goodman adventure. It started at the number 2 subway stop on 50th Street with a mosaic mural scene of White Rabbit and Alice.

The adventure brought me to Berdorf Goodman's windows inspired by Lewis Carrol story telling

Here is where we find Alice in the company of the The White Rabbit, mushrooms and the cat

A staircase leading down to the chess board where The White Rabbit, the Crow and other characters play a game of chess. From the Queen's of Hearts inspired back drop with a Jack of Spades peeking from the diamond cut-out looking at a half painted with red color white rose

The chess game becomes a full blown card game at the red and black Mad Hatter party

The 5th Avenue traffic is being overlooked by the White Rabbit from his staircase balcony

Hypnotic of black and white graphic fabric patterns and backdrop elements dominate the view of numerous spiral staircases and proportions in Compendium of Curiosities scene

And that's where my "Through the Looking Glass" of Bergdorf Goodman adventure concludes...

All photos are taken by Sabina Les and can be used with permission