They All Came to Barneys

 

Sadly, I never got to go to Barneys. Apparently there was one at South Coast Plaza but by the time I was old enough to know about such things it was long gone. I went into Neiman's once and immediately turned around and went out. I could see it was definitely too bougie for me (my budget, not my tastes. As far as tastes went, it was right up my alley). I'm pretty sure Barneys would have been similar.

Barney Pressman started Barneys in New York in the 1920s as a discount men's suit store. His son, Fred, decided to take the store in a different direction and focus on quality and up and coming designers. Fred loved well made clothes. When his son, Gene, turned twenty-one, he joined his father and grandfather at the store. Gene was the one who convinced Fred to branch out into women's clothing, and the store flourished for decades. Barneys became known as the place to go to see the newest, coolest things. Not just clothes, but home furnishings. Barneys sold things that you couldn't get anywhere else and discovered some major designers and brought them to America for the first time. 

So how did it all fall apart? Part of it was ambition. They wanted to open more stores throughout the country and of course the stores had to be built with the finest materials and designed by famous architects. They ended up going into a partnership with a Japanese firm. They couldn't pay the bills and Barneys declared bankruptcy. By then Barney was gone and Fred followed not long after. Gene and his younger brother, Bob, ended up losing the company their grandfather built from nothing. 

From what I understand, Bob is also writing his own tell-all book, and Gene doesn't come out of it looking well. So Gene struck first.

One of the best parts of the book was when Gene talked about hiring a woman for the store who thought nothing about wearing tiaras to work as business casual and how she was the only one he'd ever met who thought that way. That's me too! I don't honestly understand why more people don't wear tiaras (and crowns) to work on a regular basis. You only get the one life. You should enjoy it.