Five designers remember Barneys New York’s impact on their careers as the store's fate hangs in limbo after its bankruptcy filing.
Browne chalks up the store’s aesthetic credibility to the many buyers and creatives that have worked there over the years. “They are true merchants,” Browne says. “You really have superstars in the world of fashion, real visionaries, like Tom Kalenderian, Jay Bell, Daniella Vitale, Mark Lee when he was there, and Simon Doonan, of course. They are just people that are true visionaries.
Barneys’s place in the retail landscape is now less secure than when its visionary merchants became fashion stars. Direct-to-consumer brands are vying for shoppers’ attention and dollars, while the rise of nontraditional retail schedules—see the drop as popularized by Supreme—have challenged older businesses to keep up. Its e-commerce is said to make up a large portion of its business, though the brand still owes upwards of $20 million to many of its vendors.
Mary Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Jack McCollough, Lazaro Hernanez, and Liya Kebede at Fashion’s Night Out 2010 at Barneys New York“It’s so iconic New York, more than any other department store,” says Hernandez. “Think of Saks and Neimans and Nordstrom—those are all amazing stores, but they are more American. Barneys is really New York. That’s where a lot of our friends and peers have shopped throughout the years. That’s the place New Yorkers go to shop.
The way the store is merchandised and the items it carries play into its New Yorkiness. “I design for a very urban woman here in New York; she’s a very New York–centric character, and that’s their customer and it’s also their image,” says Rodriguez. Being a New York institution comes with a price—literally. Barneys’s rent hike, which is partially the cause for its bankruptcy filing, raised its monthly rent to $30 million. “I think it would be very sad for the city, but as a New Yorker, I have to say that I’ve watched many institutions evolve and change. Change is a part of the city,” says Posen, a lifelong New Yorker. “New ideas come about too, and I think on a positive note, we have to look at it that way.
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