Bloodbath: Barneys Kills Macabre Window Display
Customers disturbed by gruesome mannequins
Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 | Updated 8:00 AM EST
Racked.com
Cool, disturbing or just bizarre?
It was like a bad Hitchcock movie.
The luxury retailer Barneys New York has removed a window display that made it appear blood-spattered mannequins were fending off attackers -- a gruesome scene that had disturbed passerby wondering, "What's the point?"
Angie Lobo, of Queens, stumbled across the macabre scene while window shopping with her daughter. "It's distasteful," she told the Daily News.
The vestibule of the store on E. 61st Street looked like a scene out of a horror movie. Behind blood-spattered windows, white mannequins wearing long back dresses by Helmut Lang and A.L.C. were posed as if trying to defend themselves from attackers. While some shoppers were terrified, however, others were just confused as to what the heck was going on.
"I think it's a little crazy," 25-year-old Sarah Elizabeth told the News. "Did she fall off the chair and hit her head? Is that blood?"
Creative director Simon Doonan says the ghoulish display was installed in a vestibule window at the Manhattan store while he was away on business. He had it removed Tuesday after an inquiry from the News.
Doonan said he encourages creativity, but "this clearly crossed the line.''
The name "Barneys'' might ring a bell among political observers. Sarah Palin's widely publicized wardrobe included $789 spent there.
The weird window display left some shoppers puzzled and others appalled.
A few shrugged off the edgy art in typical New York fashion. Says Joyce Sanders of Harlem: "I watch a lot of 'CSI.'''
