Barney’s Windows NYC

Have a Foodie Holiday?

Thanks for the great idea.

A whiff of fresh pine is probably my favorite scent during the holidays, but a kitchen fragrant with the busy bubbling preparation of delicious food is right up there too. I think most people consider good food to be an important part of the holidays.

I have to say I didn’t find the windows at Barney’s to be as delicious as I had hoped. I know they like to go for “kooky”, and I love kooky, but these struck me as more grotesque, and frankly, unappetizing.

The first window was a messy revolutionary stew: steamy shapes made to look like some of the culinary greats were stirred into a giant  pot. Maybe I am too touchy, but I think Julia Child deserves a little more.

photo from CBS New York

Papier-mâché versions of many of the men on the Food Network were captured in a seriously sloppy food fight in another window.  The centerpiece was Mario Batali’s head (yes, just his head) on a platter surrounded with small orange crocs (his shoe of choice).

The women of the Food Network were featured in Snuggies (um, SO last year).

Rachel Ray was spared the snuggie drape, instead her (cross-eyed) mug was the clock on the wall. 

My favorite contemporary chef, Nigella Lawson fared pretty well, her image was strung up on a silver platter, adorned with some sort of rastafarian stripes.

While I would rate these windows somewhere between ho-hum and very strange, there were some inspiring elements to the displays at Barney’s.

The corner window at Barney’s was a spectacular creation made from illycaffè products. I love using common items to make a beautiful display. In front of a wall of Illy tins, this caffeine princess, decorating a tree made of coffee bags, was a beauty to behold. Her billowing skirt was draped with garlands of paper espresso cups and accented with silvery coffee filters, flattened and floral-like. 

The skirt reminds me of my favorite image in my childhood Cinderella book, of the little blue birds embellishing her simple skirt with garlands and flowers. This window was witty, creative and had the fantasy glamour I love to see in a holiday window.

The window was framed in more paper cup garlands.

Witty, foodie and stylish is how I would describe the giant wreath just inside the front door of Barney’s. The photo isn’t great — but the wreath is decorated with kitchen tools and utensils.  All of the little “berries” are copper scrubbies — and the platform on which the wreath is set is a bed of more copper scrubbies.

I am still trying to decide on my holiday decoration “theme” for the market this season — how are your decorations coming along??