Where Did All the Barney's Jewelers Go?
“So, I am truly loyal to the end of the earth,” Irene Neuwirth declares in a text followed by images of her latest creations, a visual avalanche of tourmalines and opals and emeralds. “Barneys was my very first account. I was committed to staying with Barneys until the end.”
And so she did. The Los Angeles-based designer is noted for her signature carved gemstones, vividly imagined color palette, and a pair of diamond bow earrings that Rachel Brosnahan wore to the Golden Globes that almost broke the jewelry internet.
Neuwirth was also known as a Barneys jeweler. Her collection occupied several cases prominently positioned to the left of the main entrance off Madison. Her fans—and they too are a fiercely loyal bunch—counted on seeing their favorite Neuwirth medallions, or bunny charms, or beads anytime they stopped in. Sometimes they also encountered Neuwirth herself if she was in town.
That all changed in late 2019 when Barneys announced it would close all its stores. No one was really worried about if Neuwirth would land—the jeweler is one of the industry’s hottest talents—the question was more, "where."
The answer was, give or take a few blocks, just around the corner. Beginning on February 7, Neuwirth’s pieces, mostly one of a kind and exclusive, will premiere at Bergdorf Goodman. “In almost 20 years of business, I have never had the luxury of having a fresh start," says Neuwirth. "The stores we work with have had our jewelry and grown our collection from the beginning.
"I feel like I was able to really go for it. I pushed all of the limits and created the most gorgeous, precious, whimsical, dreamiest collection," she says. "I wanted it to feel different than the cases at Barneys that all of my collectors are accustomed to seeing. And it is!”
“Irene has been designing an almost entirely new collection for her launch with Bergdorfs,” explains the store’s Designer Jewelry Buyer, Lauren Painter. “We will of course have a nice representation of her core styles, but the vast majority of the pieces will be new and exclusive, and a lot one-of-a-kind."
"I’ve always been such a fan of Irene’s work, and while we’d never worked directly together, our paths have crossed for years in the jewelry world. As soon as I started at Bergdorf’s, I knew what an incredible fit her collection would be for our jewelry salon, and the team and I tried to lure her over every chance that we got," Painter says. "Finally, the timing was right, and I think from the moment we walked through the salon together, Irene caught our excitement for the gorgeous cases of jewels we’d been envisioning, and started mentally designing the new collection for us.”
Those who follow Neuwirth closely on Instagram—complete with her jewelry and pet adventures—will be happy to see her pieces back on display in New York. Their only question might be: Are dogs allowed inside Bergdorf’s?
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