I imagine many of us wonder what Carine Roitfeld has in store for the window displays she is masterminding for Barneys New York to introduce the autumn styles. Here to offer a few predictions as to what we might see behind the glass at Barneys come September is the always delightful Kate Ringo Suzuki, editor-at-large for New York. Thank you so much, Kate, I would love to see any of your fabulous concepts in Carine's hands...
Carine Roitfeld's Barneys New York Windows
By Kate Ringo Suzuki
Carine Roitfeld has been quoted as saying: “We are very free in France. We are free with sex, with cigarettes…” And now Ms. Roitfeld’s brand of free, sexually charged styling is on its way stateside. Fashionistas rejoice! Any day now Carine Roitfeld will be lending her iconic talent to a collaboration with the Barneys flagship store in New York. Beyond styling the catalogs and advertisements, her looks will be featured in Barneys' legendary windows. Carine Roitfeld is about to get New York fashion all hot and bothered.
La Roitfeld and Barneys New York are a match made in heaven. Barneys is fun, sexy, and full of merchandise that you can’t get anywhere else... well other than The Pleasure Chest in the West Village that is. Ms. Roitfeld is the “queen of porno chic” after all. About that little label, “queen of porno chic,” Ms. Roitfeld told New York Magazine, “I’ve always been provocative, but what I’m going to do next is a new way of provocation. I did for many years porno chic. I was the queen of porno chic. And I will do something totally different now.” Do something different? Oh, Carine! Please do not change one bit! New York needs you. If anyone can stimulate our economy, it would be you!
What will the Barneys New York windows look like under Carine’s direction? Perhaps she will take cues from her past work at Vogue Paris. She could, for example, reference that famous editorial, "La Panthère Ose," from the Dec 2010/Jan 2011 issue…
Dress a mannequin as a kind of modern day Mrs. Robinson. I can see it now: the bouffant hairstyle, the Jean Paul Gaultier black leather and wool trench coat and black skinny pants… the bandaged face. Mrs. Robinson just had some work done. Just a touch. Her head is completely bandaged up save for some generously mascaraed eyes peeking out. The Mrs. Robinson mannequin is kissing a male mannequin wearing a very proper Hickey Freeman suit.
Oh, I know. She could reference that old standby, her scandalous “No Smoking” editorial from the April 2009 issue of Vogue Paris…
Show the mannequin in a white Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo jacket with nothing underneath. Pair that with black chiffon Kiki de Montparnasse shorts and Giuseppe Zanotti platform t-straps. Pad the front of the YSL le smoking with a pillow. Pregant mannequin. In one hand mannequin holds a picnic basket from Chelsea Passage, containing a baby doll purchased at nearby FAO Schwartz. In the other hand, position a cigarette between the mannequin's fingers. Puff puff. Bad mommy!
Or she could go back even further in time, back to the iconic "Corps & Lames" featured in Vogue Paris in February 2005…
The mannequin wears a full-length Gucci black chiffon dress covered with little white polka dots, exposing black panties and bare mannequin nipples. Shocking!! The mannequin is seductively positioned bending over a sterile stainless steel table, stabbing at some raw meat. Okay, so raw meat might pose a problem, what with flies and cockroaches. We'll work on it...
Whatever Carine Roitfeld does with Barneys' windows, I know it will be brilliant. And it will definitely not look anything like the windows of a certain bourgeois competitor... Looking forward to a most fashionable September to remember....
Vogue Paris editorial images © 2005, 2009, 2010 Condé Nast. All Rights Reserved.
jeudi 18 août 2011 
