Simon Doonan was the Creative Director of Barneys window display from 1986 to 2010. Doonan once said that he does not think of himself as a visionary; “I think I’m a very creative person, and I have good instincts about marketing, but I don’t think I’m very visionary. Once [change] starts happening, I can make it look great, and keep it in sync with the brand and image. But certain people have this magical way of seeing into the future, and I’m always astonished by what those people do.” Doonan explains, that he would sees what everyone is doing, and do the complete opposite, he does not conform.
However, for Doonan’s final windows at Barneys, he decided to go with a food fight, knowing the trend of “foodie” was becoming a big thing. Simon Doonan is not a big “foodie” himself, so he immersed himself into that world, studying it like a new language and worked on the windows for months.
The windows featured Martha Stewart, Guy Fieri, Wolfgang Puck and others, flinging dishes and ingredients at each other in a massive, over-the-top food fight. “The takeaway is how to work on your brand, and distinguish it from other people,” he said. “How to stand out and maintain that edge, which is so important, especially today.” Since 2010, Simon Doonan has become the Creative Ambassador at Barney’s, which is more oriented towards public relations.
