Report: Simon Doonan Won't Be Doing the Holiday Windows at Barneys This Year

When Barneys first announced that it was moving much-beloved Brit Simon Doonan into a new role as Creative Ambassador-at-Large, the press release explained that he would still be contributing to "special window projects." Now, it seems, that role will not include putting together the Barneys holiday windows, which have garnered a reputation as some of the most playful and inventive in the city.

In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, the paper reports that Doonan's new role "doesn't include decorating the store's five windows on Madison Avenue," and asserts that Doonan will instead be designing the windows for Paypal's holiday pop-up store in Tribeca. 

On his love of window dressing overall, Doonan stresses in the interview that "New York is the capital of window display," and also insists that, despite her protests to the contrary, he always had a big holiday window rivalry with Linda Fargo of Bergdorf Goodman:

Linda [Fargo, a senior vice president at Bergdorf Goodman] always says we're not competitive, but we are incredibly competitive. I always want to have more interesting windows than her. Always. It's commerce, not Kumbaya.

No word yet on who will be overseeing the windows at Barneys this season, but said person has some big shoes to fill.

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