Nothing says Christmastime in New York like department store holiday windows—the fanciful works of art and creative whim, always months and months in the making. This year, the team behind Barneys amazing displays has allowed Racked photographer Daniel Krieger to go behind the scenes, capturing their work in a four-part photo essay. We're excited, you're excited; let's get to the images. Below is part four: the unveiling.
Part 4, 11/16/2008: Last night, Barneys held their Peace + Love: Have a Hippie Holiday window unveiling. Newsman Tom Brokaw, sporting a flowered tie and a peace-sign scarf, cut the ribbon (he has a new book out titled, Boom! Voices of the Sixties), Simon Doonan spoke, there was a special Barneys-branded VW Beetle. A full gallery of the eye-popping windows, more than a year in the works, is above.
· A Very Barneys Christmas: The Set Up! [Racked]
· A Very Barneys Christmas: Packing Up! [Racked]
· A Very Barneys Christmas: Doonan's Hippy Holiday! [Racked]
Nothing says Christmastime in New York like department store holiday windows—the fanciful works of art and creative whim, always months and months in the making. This year, the team behind Barneys amazing displays has allowed Racked photographer Daniel Krieger to go behind the scenes, capturing their work in a four-part photo essay. We're excited, you're excited; let's get to the images. Below is part three: the set up.
Part 3, 11/11/2008: As is tradition at Barneys, the windows team spends a week publicly assembling the holiday displays in full view of all passersby. After unpacking all the Hippy Holiday elements on Monday, the team works behind the glass to set everything up for the big reveal on Sunday. (The full unveiling will take place at 5:30pm, with Tom Brokaw cutting the ribbon.) Store creative director Simon Doonan has said that the windows are "built with spit and glue," meaning they're not mass produced. Given the transparency of the project, it's obvious that that's the case.
Nothing says Christmastime in New York like department store holiday windows—the fanciful works of art and creative whim, always months and months in the making. This year, the team behind Barneys amazing displays has allowed Racked photographer Daniel Krieger to go behind the scenes, capturing their work in a four-part photo essay. We're excited, you're excited; let's get to the images. Below is part two: the pack up.
Part 2, 11/05/2008: Last week came the not-so-fun part of the Barneys holiday display building: the breaking down and packing up of all the various display elements. The window dressers work out of a studio on the far west side, and they need to carefully transport the Hippy Holiday pieces from that studio to the store at 660 Madison Avenue and 61st. That means a lot of bubble-wrapping and boxing. There are only a few days between the unboxing at Barneys and the full reveal, so we're sure the last thing the Barneys team wants is for the big wooden guitar or ribbon-bedecked tambourines they've assembled to get dinged up or crushed en route to the store.
Nothing says Christmastime in New York like department store holiday windows—the fanciful works of art and creative whim, always months and months in the making. This year, the team behind Barneys amazing displays has allowed Racked photographer Daniel Krieger to go behind the scenes, capturing their work in a four-part photo essay. We're excited, you're excited; let's begin. Below is part one: the final stages of prep.
Part 1, 10/14/2008: In a quiet, warehouse-like space, Barneys team of window dressers, led by creative director Simon Doonan, have been working for twelve months to finish this year's store displays. The theme is peace and love; the tagline: "Have a Hippy Holiday." The scene is hodge-podge: records, mannequins, paint-spattered stools and all matter of tools lay about, while the small staff puts the finishing touches on the groovy, retro displays. On the pick of peace and love for this year's theme, Doonan states that it has less to do with the current political climate (though that is a nice coincidence) and more to do with it being the 50th anniversary of the peace sign. "It is a nice post-election sentiment, but also, there's just lots of interest in everything counterculture right now." The windows are set to be unveiled to the public this weekend; Doonan's already looking ahead to 2009. "The theme of next year's windows will be great wits, from Oscar Wilde to Tina Fey. It's a good time for humor."
Check back on Wednesday for Part 2 of A Very Barneys Christmas, "The Pack Up"
The mythical Barneys MePa outpost is looking more and more realistic, as today Fashion Week Daily brings a detailed report on just where the luxury department store is planning to open a new store. Previous rumormongering put the location at West 13th and Washington Streets, but the Daily gets specific. They cite a document from the Landmark Preservation Committee that states that Barneys has plans to demolish the two-story building at 402 West 13th Street and then rebuild it as five deluxe stories under the guidance of architectural firm Pasanella & Klein Stolzman & Berg, Architects—which currently lists 402 West 13th as a project on their website.
[Image from last year's Lucky Shops via their website]
CHELSEA—Do you ever fall asleep in the middle of reading Lucky and have strange, soothing dreams in which helpful stylists encourage you to pick out the five best belted cardigans of the season? Because that's essentially what Lucky Shops is like, and it's happening this weekend at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Along with a boutique showcasing emerging designers and a brow waxing stand, you'll be able to shop racks stuffed with clothing by Eskell, Geren Ford, Jill Stuart, Vena Cava, Bing Bang, Earnest Sewn, Daryl K, Alice + Olivia, and J Brand, all at discounts of up to 70%. Regular hours are 10am to 5pm this Saturday if you pay $20 at the door, but $35 gets you into "First Dibs Friday" (10am to 7pm.) And big spenders can shell out $250 for a ticket to Thursday night's shopping party, with 50% of the proceeds go to the poverty-fighting Robin Hood Foundation. [Lucky Shops]
UPPER EAST SIDE—For designers who make things with their hands, Barneys is often a frustrating catch-22. You can make a lot of money selling your goods through them, but you have to produce in huge quantities, which can be daunting if you're knitting/whittling/tie-dying each article of clothing individually. This Saturday, Barneys offers a sort of solution with Artisan Day, a single afternoon (12pm to 5pm) showcasing hand-made home and menswear items. Drop by the store on 61st and Madison to see works by "Hat Makers, Jewelers, Knitters, Furniture Makers, Pen & Ink masters, Pillow Makers, Potters, Scarf Makers, Shirt Makers, Shoe Makers, Stationers, Tattoo Artists, T-shirt Makers, And Tie Makers." Wait. Tattoo Artists? [Racked Inbox]
The blog Modelizing captured this picture of a very happy mannequin whooping it up in the window of Barneys. Technically, she's celebrating the Olsen twins' book Influence, but since Barneys is also displaying paintings of the nation's 43 previous first ladies plus both candidates' wives, we'd like to think there's a political meaning here. Maybe she just get back from a champagne date with Michelle Obama's portrait.
· Barneys [Modelizing]
· In the Window: Olsen Twins Have Influence at Barneys [Racked]
A horned jack-o-lantern on Lorimer Street in Williamsburg
LOWER EAST SIDE—Send the good people at Gargyle a photo of yourself in your Halloween costume, and you could win a $50 gift certificate. Specifics: E-mail jpgs and an explanation of your costume to ghoulandthegang@gargyle.com by 5pm on Monday, November 3rd. They'll post all the pictures online, so don't send anything you wouldn't want your mother to see. [Racked Inbox]
LOWER EAST SIDE—Get 20% off fall clothing at both In God We Trust and Suite Orchardthis weekend in honor of Halloween. [Refinery 29]
GREENPOINT—Hayden-Harnett celebrates with wine and refreshments at their store at 211 Franklin Street this afternoon from 4pm to 8pm. Every half hour they're giving out a door prize. Shut-ins and non-New Yorkers can join in the fun online: Until midnight, everything on their website is 20% off when you type in "TRICKORTREAT" at checkout. [Racked Inbox]
If Barneys can't have Mary Kate and Ashley over to sign their new book Influence, then they sure as hell will have their faces plastered everywhere to remind passers-by that they are tight like that. So while the Union Square Barnes & Noble hosts the girlies today at 12:30pm, Barneys can rest safe, knowing that their fur coats are far away from paint-wielding PETA protesters.
PETA is planning on holding a protest tomorrow during the book signing at the Barnes & Noble on 33 E. 17th St. at noon. Members of peta2 will wear scary 'Trollsen Twins' masks and hold signs that show animals killed for fur next to the taglines 'Hairy Kate and Trashley Olsen: Fur Tramps' and 'Trollsens: Fur Hags From Hell.' 'From their ghoulish garb to their skeletal frames, every day is Halloween if you’re an Olsen twin.'
This should be a real tumultuous scene; we're scared already. It sounds way worse than the storming of the DKNY runway during Fashion Week. Note to anyone working in the vicinity of Union Square tomorrow: don't go outside.
· Barnes & Noble Under the Olsen Twins' Influence [Racked]
Best assignment ever? When the news broke that the Republican National Committee has spent $150,000 on clothing for Sarah Palin, Slate reporter Nina Shen Rastogi hightailed it to Saks to try to replicate the wardrobe. In the end, exhausted and spent after a day of running up and down those venerable escalators, she discovered that she'd only found $149,924 worth of vice presidential outfits. Then again, unlike Rastogi, the RNC spread the wealth around, visiting Barneys and Bloomingdale's as well as Saks. [Slate]
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