Simon Doonan window dressed Barneys for decades. Now, he has some advice for creatives

As a new Barneys pop up opens in downtown NYC, the store’s longtime creative director talks about how unconventionality is the key to staying creatively energized.

For decades, Barneys department store was a microcosm of what was cool about New York City. Its retail and window designs were uniquely improvisational and artistic, offering creative ingenuity and intrigue you wouldn’t see in stuffy uptown shops. Those stores sold more austere takes on aspirational buying.