Barneys holiday windows go Green. Kind of.

Barneys has gone green once again (remember Loomstate pop ups?). My sister was in town this weekend so we went looking around at holiday windows (Bergdorf still reigns supreme, as if there was ever a doubt).

I must say I was very intrigued by the Barneys display. The brain behind the department store's beautiful window displays, executive VP of creative services Simon Doonan, decided to pay homage to the eco-friendly movement sweeping the fashion industry with this year's holiday windows.

In a humorous video interview with New York Magazine, the window man states that his staff had to buy raw materials like cans and bottles off of homeless people on the Bowery to put the looks together.

What? Really? Yes, Really.

Recycled cardboard and sustainable wood were also used to create the displays. The effort feels a bit tongue-and-cheek, which is in line with Doonan's slapstick sarcastic humor.

It seems a little over the top--even for him.

Window Explanations as follows:

Top: Caracatures of eco-friendly celebs such as Bono and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Reindeer: Rudolph the Recycling Reindeer who has tons of green bulbs surrounding him, a peace sign and smiley face on his face, and an ornament baring the expression " Green is the new Black" Oh yes. They went there.


The Red Window: Paintings/Portraits of Mother Earth painted by the children of the East Harlem School. Cliche? Yes. Cute? Yes.

The pieces are for sale of course and proceeds benefit the school.

Text at the bottom of the windows reads: Give Good Green on repeat. What a great holiday anthem!

The Elf Window: An ecological countdown.


Number 12 on the 12 Green Days of Christmas scroll reads "12 tons of tofu," followed by "11 solar panels," "10 new age gurus," "9 organic carob bars" and "8 tickets to Burning Man."

So yes, they officially there/here/everywhere with this whole eco-Christmas.

So much for the subliminal.

This is a bit over the line for me, but at least they are trying to send a great message--aren't they? Or is this just a dog and pony show? How genuine can a message be when it is coming from a well paid window maestro who sends his employees to seek out the homeless in order to truly be organic/civic minded? I just don't know if I buy it.

What do you think?