Simon Doonan and the Fight For Optimism

Article Images

"It's Christmas, goddammit," Simon Doonan says. Well, not really, but the Barneys New York creative director's holiday campaign, Have a Hippie Holiday: Peace & Love, comes close to saying everything but. While the department store's crusade for "peace, love and understanding" has been getting quite the press [Racked.com spent the day in Doonan's display-design lair, The Observer quoted that Doonan "read that it's the 50th Anniversary of the peace sign!" in his study of this year's apparent sixties revival], Style.com may have hit the nail on the head yesterday by including in a title, "Barneys Battles Dreaded R-Word." But the best part? In Style's article about how Doonan is dodging the dreaded R-word, the dreaded R-word — let's just say it, Recession — is nowhere to be found. Read the story at style.com.

Doonan's push for classic New York holiday cheer amid what many, according to the WSJ, predict will be "a gloomy holiday sales season for retailers," is hopeful. And in the general post-election euphoria, it may again be morning in America, but it is surely a dark night for luxury retail. Still, fight on, Simon!

— Camille Drummond