Hollywood-Loved Department Store Barneys New York Is Back, and You Can Thank Forever 21
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Barneys New York closed its doors years ago, but the Hollywood-loved designer retailer’s name lives on through licensing deals. After launching a beauty brand in 2022, Barneys returns to the Big Apple for New York Fashion Week with an unexpected collaborator: Forever 21.
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The Barneys New York x Forever 21 collaboration ($30-$130) fuses the iconic department store’s East Coast cool with the fast-fashion brand’s Los Angeles roots, as seen in laid-back logo tees, utilitarian denim jackets and pantsuits in oversized or structured silhouettes. The 32-piece range includes racerback bodysuits and tanks, sweaters, hoodies, joggers and other basics alongside made-to-match styles such as blazers and trousers, sweater tanks and bodysuits, knitted ponte leggings and midi and maxi skirts.
The collection also has unisex and plus sizes in denim pants and jackets, white button-up shirts, ribbed drop-shoulder sweaters, quilted cocoon coats and double-breasted blazer and hoodie combos, to name a few. Most of the collection’s pieces come in black, white, oatmeal and camel, and a pop of fall-ready jadeite rounds out the versatile colorways.
Newlywed model and former Victoria’s Secret Angel Taylor Hill stars as the face of the capsule line’s campaign.
“I’ve always felt passionate about fashion because it’s been such a creative outlet for self-expression, where I can experiment with styles and be whoever I want to be,” Hill says in a statement. “This partnership has a special meaning to me because I’ve been shopping at Forever 21 since I was old enough to remember and Barneys New York was such an iconic fashion institution that launched so many major brands and designers.”
“The collaboration with Barneys New York is an important initiative for Forever 21 because we see it as the perfect union of an iconic luxury fashion authority with our core message of making amazing fashion inclusive and accessible to all,” adds Forever 21 CEO Winnie Park. “We focused on fabrics for evergreen silhouettes in a series of monochromatic head-to-toe looks for this particular collection.”
Founded in Manhattan in 1923 by Barney Pressman, Barneys began as a men’s discount store on West 17th Street and Seventh Avenue. It helped launch the careers of designers big and small, including Giorgio Armani, Comme des Garçons, Zegna, Christian Louboutin and Irene Neuwirth, who previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the retailer was her “first account. Barneys supported artists.”
Barneys filed for bankruptcy for the second and final time in 2019 (the first was in 1996) and its name was purchased by Authentic Brands Group, which also owns the rights to the likenesses of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley as well as consumer fashion brands Juicy Couture, Reebok, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand and dozens of others.
The Barneys x F21 collection is available now at Forever21.com and at Forever 21 stores. See more photos of the campaign below, and shop online here.
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