Jezebel: simon says

More Notable Quotables From Simon Doonan

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

"No one respects an upward trajectory any more — transcending the grittiness of your home-town and heading for the spangly corsets of the big city. For me there's nothing wrong with being nouveau riche. It's about clawing your way to the top and not clambering down through the sewer. The American dream story is a bit of an old chestnut, but I cling to it." Ah, Simon Doonan: We hear ya. The creative director of Barneys New York spoke with Telegraph's Christopher Turner, and, as usual, he's just rife with musings on everything from his career ("Every motherfucker on earth sees my windows — even homeless people, which appeals to the populist in me") to his childhood ("Being around psychotics definitely influenced my creative sensibility") and the mantra he wishes all women would adapt ("BRUNCH - belligerent, resilient, uninhibited, naughty, creative and hilarious"). More bon mots from our favorite window-dresser and bon vivant, after the jump.

On why he thinks of himself and Kate Moss as kindred spirits:

We're both working-class slags from crap towns.

On how he thinks of his own work:

Hokey street theatre...I think I invented disgustingly messy windows

On being raised by a mother with oft-missing dentures, a parsnip-wine brewing father, a lobotomized grandmother, schizophrenic uncle and blind aunt:

They were self-invented, unconventional, and had no preconceived ideas about parenting [and] a stratospherically high tolerance for unconventional behaviour.

On fellow window-dressers who fancy themselves artists:

[They] should be taken off to internment camps and forced to become artists to see what a drag it is... artists agonise over their line quality and window-dressers agonise over their fashion accessories.

On the modern American celebrity:

Most celebrities are as boring as shit. The way they look, the way they cavort themselves - they look like a bunch of dreary Republican wives going to the country club.

Simon Doonan: All In The Worst Possible Taste [Telegraph]

Earlier: Five Quirky Quips From Wonderfully Wacky Simon Doonan

Five Quirky Quips From Wonderfully Wacky Simon Doonan

Dodai — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Barneys creative director Simon Doonan is profiled in WWD today. He's got a new book, Eccentric Glamour (one chapter is called "Say No to Ho"), and his interview is chock full of amusing witticisms and quippy bon mots, especially if you recall that he says it all in a crisp British accent. Of convincing Donatella Versace to stand in the window of Barneys New York for ten minutes, Simon says: "I told her it would be like an aquarium." He claims he came out of the womb totally and obviously gay: "I was flitting around the house like a Russian ballerina. I think my parents were just glad I wasn't a schizophrenic." On Hillary Clinton and her wardrobe: "She looks entirely appropriate. I don't want a politician who is going to wear a backless Dior gown. I don't want a politician who's thinking about fashion for even one millisecond. It's the same as medical professionals. The idea of a person in a Comme des Garçons humpback dress giving me a colonoscopy is just not groovy."

On plastic surgery:

"I am completely opposed to it. I understand it with performers who might want to extend their careers, but the whole concept of being anti-aging is very questionable to me. Regular people torturing their faces, it's nasty. Learn to glue on false eyelashes. Don't become Jocelyn Wildenstein when you can be Louise Nevelson."

As for what Doonan plans to do as an old man, he says: "Maybe I'll become Amy Winehouse. I want to take back the night for senior citizens."

Funny Face [WWD]

NY Observer columnist and Barneys New York...

Jennifer — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:45:00 EDT

NY Observer columnist and Barneys New York creative director Simon Doonan on the designers showing at NY Fashion Week and the fashion editors who loved them: "They've all lost their minds. Last week all the Patsys and Edinas came charging out of the tents of Bryant Park shrieking about the return of COLOR for spring. They are still clinging to the notion that it is possible to identify clear directions and specific trends. They are in denial about the fact that fashion—from Cavalli to K-Mart—has become a giant free-for-all, and that cheeky upbeat gals who want color will wear it, just as they did last spring, and gloomy existentialist gals who wear black will continue to do so... you are the one with all the influence. The designers are just playing 'pin the tail on the donkey.' They have no power over you. The fashion world changes when you get bored with a particular notion or trend, and not before." [NYO]