Barneys New York is back.
Hourglass founder and president Carisa Janes is bringing back Barneys for a limited-time pop-up in SoHo, and has enlisted the famed retailer’s former creative forces to lead the charge. Opening Sept. 5 on Prince Street, the 1,500-square-foot space was designed by Barneys former creative design director Simon Doonan, with an assortment curated by former fashion director Julie Gilhart. It will run for five weeks.
The assortment spans fashion, accessories and beauty, and enlists designers such as Area, Christopher John Rogers, Luar, Peter Do, Who Decides War and Willy Chavarria, among others.
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Janes’ rationale for bringing it back was her own brand’s 20th anniversary. “When we were coming up with this 20-year milestone for Hourglass, we went all the way back to the beginning, and it was all about Barneys,” she said of Hourglass’ first retail partnership. “When we think about Barneys and what it represented, we think about how much we miss it and how it really hasn’t been replaced.
“We had this desire to bring the essence of Barneys back, celebrating the designers we all know and love, as well as pass the baton to the next generation of designers and creatives,” Janes continued.
Gilhart’s mandate was to reiterate upon Barneys’ previous selection for the 2024 shopper, and designers will be rotated in and out of the space on a weekly basis. “Barneys was always high to low. You had Co-op and you had expensive brands,” Gilhart said. “Then, you had a balance of already established brands, and the ones that are emerging. There was no global boundary, but our assortment ended up with just New York designers.”
The store design follows that approach to merchandising. “We always wanted to be unconventional, we were unconventional and our point of view was unconventional,” said Doonan. “We always wanted to intrigue the customer and exceed their expectations through being creative and cheeky and surprising.”
Those surprises include découpage tables, “instead of just boring merchandise tables,” Doonan said, which feature pages from Jane Austen, Alice Walker and other female writers. There’s also a port-a-potty (for selfie purposes), and a poodle made out of Hourglass products.
Similarly, Hourglass will be selling limited-edition Hourglass x Barneys New York products, which include a co-branded palette, two lipsticks, and a fragrance — Janes’ first.
“Some parts were challenging,” Janes said of the fragrance’s inception. “It’s a different muscle, but it was a welcome surprise.”
There will be a range of programming throughout the pop-up’s duration, as well as services. Those include celebrity appearances, guest DJs, industry panels and a menu of Hourglass beauty services.
“It’s really become this limited-edition concept store, with programming layered in,” said Brooke Blashill, chief marketing officer at Hourglass. “Really it’s a creative hub downtown. This isn’t about bringing Barneys back, it’s taking the essence of what Barneys was.”