Fashion
What to Expect From Barneys at Saks, A First of Its Kind Luxury Retail Collab
After Barneys New York declared bankruptcy, Saks Fifth Avenue decided to license the name for Barneys at Saks shop-in-shops. Does it make sense? One Vogue editor test runs the experience….
If Raf Simons can go to Prada, Chitose Abe can take the reins at Jean Paul Gaultier for a season, and Moncler can import a revolving cast of Geniuses, then surely the new rules of collaboration apply to titans of luxury retail too? When the beloved Barneys New York shuttered in 2019 after declaring bankruptcy, leaving many vendors and collaborators unpaid, part of its liquidation plan was to open shop-in-shops at Saks Fifth Avenue stores. Today, that experiment debuts in Saks’s New York flagship. Don your mask, get a temperature check, and take the elevator to Saks’s fifth floor and you’ll be transported to the first-ever Barneys @ Saks, a 54,000 square foot space that emulates the fresh quirkiness of Barneys New York within the reliable and trusted halls of Saks Fifth Avenue.
Is the conversation between Barneys and Saks as stimulating as the one between Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons after their debut spring 2021 collection? The short answer is: sort of. Saks has used the opportunity to onboard a slate of more experimental and younger-skewing brands. The floor’s landing features six key brands that are new to Saks: A-Cold-Wall, Anna Mason, BruceGlen, Fear of God, Loulou Studio, Ree Projects, and Reese Cooper. Each has a dedicated area with several rails that are complemented with a placard and brand bio. Nearly 30 more new brands were added to the Saks roster as a part of the project, including Off-White, Brother Vellies, Plan C, Simon Miller, Stella Jean, and Comme des Garçons Play, and in addition to those Saks newcomers there are millennial favorites like Paco Rabanne, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Cecile Bahnsen, and Noir Kei Ninomiya.
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