Browsing the racks of Barneys New York with Simon Doonan

TUESDAY
LIVING 8
September 25, 2007
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Browsing the racks of Barneys New York with Simon Doonan
W
HEN I first
heard that they
were opening a
Barneys New
York in San
Francisco, I was filled with excited bewilderment.
The extent of my Barneys
knowledge did not go beyond
their Web site and an episode of
“Will & Grace” where Grace
spastically shopped at a sample
sale. The store was also a frequent guest on “Sex and the
City.” Even when I was in New
York for fashion week, I didn’t
have time to pop my head into
the Manhattan flagship store.
Barneys to me was a sartorial fantasyland where high-society types frolicked in fields of
expensive high-end clothing
among waterfalls of champagne
and orchards of caviar. That is
only partly true.
Before the San Francisco
store opened last week, I had
the privilege of getting a personalized tour from Simon
Doonan, creative director of
Barneys New York.
Besides being the creative
mind behind the beautiful artistry of Barneys, Doonan is a
columnist for the New York Observer and is often seen on VH1
giving his tongue-in-cheek commentary on pop culture-infused
shows such as “I Love the ’80s.”
Dino-Ray Ramos
DRESSED
[email protected]
Doonan reminded me of an
English lit professor whose
dandy accent unapolegtically
criticized your work with abrasive charm.
Doonan is a petite man with
a big personality. The word
“groovy” is commonplace in his
vernacular and he isn’t afraid to
speak his mind. From the moment I shook his hand, I knew
this would be be fun.
“Let’s make our way from
the top of the store and work
our way down,” Doonan said.
“Afterwards we can get a tea — I
am unbelievably thirsty!”
We started off with the most
sartorial floor: men’s tailored
clothing.
As Doonan educated me on
the ultra-debonair Italian-based
label Battistoni, the sight of so
many finely tailored suits and
Prada shoes made me drool.
“We have all the finest labels
SIMON SAYS: Simon Doonan,
creative director of Barneys
New York, gives us a
personalized tour of the new
San Francisco store.
here: Armani, Zegna, Isaia,”
Doonan playfully bragged.
“Some of them you can’t find
anywhere else.”
The next stop was the men’s
co-op a floor down.
“This floor is more for you,”
Doonan said with a smile. “It
has all these youthful labels:
Band of Outsiders, Theory and
Rag & Bone.”
As I looked around, Doonan
was 100 percent correct. This
floor caters to males in the 25to-34 age bracket, but he sug-
gested I act fast to see if I saw
something I liked.
“Now’s the perfect time to
shop for guys like us” — he was
referring to our small statures.
“All the small sizes tend to go
first. I already pulled aside a
couple of things for myself like
this lovely APC jacket.”
As he showed me the military-style banded collar jacket
by the French-based label he set
aside for himself, I saw a 3.1
Phillip Lim chunky knit doublebutton cardigan I fell in love
with when I saw it on the New
York Fashion Week Fall ’07
runway.
I looked at the price tag and
thought, “Maybe I should wait
for the sample sale.”
When we reached the
women’s floors, I saw labels I
don’t usually see anywhere else:
Rodarte, Derek Lam and Stella
McCartney. On the women’s coop floor, I saw a most eyecatching display: a towering
mannequin draped in a ballooning gown fashioned out of
high-end denim.
“The co-op is like an experimental place for us,” Doonan
said.
By experimental, I gathered
he meant “trendy and funky.”
Much like the men’s co-op, the
women’s co-op features
youthful collections that prob-
ably can be seen on glossy tabloid divas like Paris and the
Olsen twins.
I was bombarded by more
luxury as we spiraled down to
the lower levels: a modernized
Marie Antoinette personalized
shopping area, Louboutin heels,
Nina Ricci gowns, Theory suits
— I was on luxury overload.
On the main floor, Doonan
showed me a collection of Valextra leather goods (Victoria
Beckham loves them). They are
discreet, clean, simple and
nothing like those gigantic ornate bags you see today.
He showed me Barneys’ exclusive collection of Kazuko jewelry. The metaphysical stones in
vibrant colors are intricately encased in freeform wirework that
is organic and beautiful.
My nose even got a workout
when I was introduced to fragrance connoisseur Frederic
Malle and his Editions de Parfums. I was even lucky enough
to be the first to test out their
“smell columns” — a tube that
you stick your head in to experience the full glory of the scents.
I was also introduced to
Eddie Roschi co-founder of Le
Labo, a luxury-meets-science
fragrance company that allows
you to make customized scents.
After our romp through the
store, Doonan and I sat down
for a spot of tea at a nearby
bakery that he referred to as
“bijou.”
As he nursed his cup of Earl
Grey, he continued to make me
a follower of the Barneys New
York religion.
“We want every store to feel
like an owner-operated store,”
he said. “We do not want to feel
like a chain.”
Although the “emporium of
elegance” has some price tags
that can break the bank, its loyalty to emerging designers plays
to their humble attitude.
There was also a genuine
sense of mom-and-pop synergy
when we walked through the
store. Everyone seemed to be
on an equal playing field as
Doonan greeted everyone from
the carpenters to salespeople by
their first names. It was a team
spirit that I never garnered
from any other store.
This was great, but I wondered why it took so long for
Barneys to get to the Bay Area.
“Timing is everything,”
Doonan said. “San Francisco
has been on the card for about
three or four years.”
Now that it is here, everyone
can rejoice.
Reach Dino-Ray Ramos at [email protected] or
call 925-416-4856. Visit the fashion
blog at www.insidebayarea.com/fashion.