Live From New York it's...The Holiday Windows at Barneys?

This holiday season the Barneys flagship store, on Madison Avenue in New York City, will feature memorable scenes from over three decades on Saturday Night Live. Barneys is hoping that partnering with SNL will give them the extra boost the company needs during the holiday season. The holiday season during a recession that is.

For the past two years Barneys' windows had themes tied to the socially conscious green movement. This year the tag line for the campaign is, "Have a Witty Holiday."

Barneys creative director Simon Doonan said that this year the focus is more on fun as opposed to flagrant luxury. Barneys is also lowering some of their price points to make their merchandise more affordable. While I think this is exciting, I am hesitant to be all for it. When I think of Barneys I think of good quality, and very nice things. "Fun" isn't exactly the word I would match with the store.

Windows will feature icons such as Tina Fey, Steve Martin, John Belushi, Amy Poehler and Molly Shannon. A photograph of the current SNL cast will also be featured. The windows will be displayed November 16th with SNL producer Lorne Michaels and cast members in attendance.

While I love Saturday Night Live as much as the next American, I was so surprised to hear about this. Barneys is pretty up there in the retail world and while SNL is popular I just always put them in different categories. Despite my surprise and slight hesitation, I am excited to see how these windows turn out!

Anthropologie Meets London

Anthropologie, a pricier branch of Urban Outfitters, will open its first European flagship store in London on Friday, October 23, 2009. Located on Regent Street, the 10,000 square foot store will stay true to its roots by offering unique apparel, accesories and homeware. The reason I am so excited about this, besides the fact that it is my favorite store, is that the store is building relationships with local designors to feature in the store.

Obviously this is not realistic for every retail store to partake it, but I love that Anthropologie is encouraging local designors. People take pride in their city and culture, so why would they not take pride in their local designors? I wish more stores around the Washigton D.C. area did provide local designors with a chance to showcase their lines and help get their names out to the public. I am curious to see how well the local designors' lines sell in the London store.

The only reason I am surprised to hear that Anthropologie is opening a flagship store right now is becuase of the recession. Anthropologie tends to offer more luxurious items. I may need a new dress, but I do not need the new Corey Lynn Calter dress for say, $300. However, just because I am a poor college student and can't afford it right now does not mean that plenty of other working individuals can't. Anthropologie is in it for the long haul. The store will push through the bad economy and appeal to its target market, which consists of well-off middle to upper class incomes. The goal is for the company as a whole to have over 100 stores located throughout Europe, and I for one am excited.

West Coast to East Coast

I recently moved from Arizona to the greater Washington D.C. area and can't help but notice how different the fashion is between the coasts.

Arizona is all about jeans, t-shirts, flip-flops and more flip-flops. Throw in a sweatshirt when it gets cold and you are good to go. I'm still trying to figure D.C. out. So far I have seen the super preppies in Georgetown, the hipsters in Chinatown, the professionals downtown and the granolas in Dupont.

Ultimately it comes down to what people consider formal. I went to a wedding back home last weekend and my brother pulls out his nice black suit and then a pair of bright yellow vans to accompany it. Needless to say, that would not fly out here. Similarly, my friend from California came to visit and we were going out to a nice restaurant. He put on a nice pair of jeans, some surfer-brand t-shirt, and brown, leather flip flops (note: any flip flops that are not rubber are considered nice out west). The other guys we met up with had on a nice pair of dress pants, a button down shirt and loafers.

This leads me to the Button Down Bros. Out west we have guys that we like to call Dude Bros, because they go to class with their board shorts and a beachy t-shirt on, with one pencil tucked behind and one notebook. That is all they need for the whole day, and they start every sentence with, "Dude, bro..." I swear they exist. Saturday night I was out in the Foggy Bottom area and as I looked around I noticed every guy was wearing nice jeans with a button down shirt, most likely pin-striped, and loafers. Seriously.

I am curious to see what coast I end up liking more, fashion wise that is. I am already sick of the Button Down Bros., but, hey, at least they put a little more effort into their ensembles than the Dude Bros.