'They All Came to Barneys' review: Store's juicy history

In lieu of acknowledgments, Gene Pressman ends his new book "They All Came to Barneys: A Personal History of the World's Greatest Store" with a chapter titled "The Barneys Diaspora." Maybe that sounds a bit self-serious for a memoir about a life spent working for the family clothing business, but when you consider the names that were in Pressman’s professional orbit, you can forgive him a little pomp. And besides, by the end of the book, you have the distinct impression that he doesn’t really care what any of his critics might think of him. That’s part of what makes this book so fun to read.

For the uninitiated, Barneys was a New York-based department store whose curation, interior design and ineffable vibe engendered nearly religious devotion among its most fervent customers. Barney Pressman opened a men’s clothing store in New York City in 1923. Two generations later, his grandson Gene helped transform Barneys into a temple of chic, eventually expanding into stores in Japan and across the United States.

Barneys was the first retailer to sell designs by Azzedine Alaïa. It introduced American customers to avant-garde Japanese design from Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto. It started selling Giorgio Armani suits in 1976, a full four years before the movie "American Gigolo" popularized Armani’s slouchy silhouettes.

The talent at Barneys wasn’t limited to the names on its racks. Barneys attracted titans and future titans of fashion, media, art and entertainment.  John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd bought suits at Barneys in the 1970s. At an AIDS fundraiser at the downtown store in 1986, auctioned items included denim jackets designed by artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Rauschenberg. During the runway presentation, Madonna cut in front of Iman, who wore denim customized by Keith Haring.

"They All Came to Barneys" doesn’t seem like much of an exaggeration. Name-droppy? Sure. But oh, what names!

And for nightlife history nerds, Pressman’s recollections are a breath of fresh air. He mentions Studio 54 but also name-checks more obscure haunts, like the Upper East Side singles bar Yellowfingers, the early gay dance destination Le Jardin and a litany of Paris discos.

There are also several loving recollections of restaurants — those that Gene opened at Barneys and those where he ate outside of work — that presumably benefited from the pen of Pressman’s co-author, Matthew Schneier, the current restaurant critic for New York Magazine.

It’s clear when reading these passages that Pressman very much enjoyed the finer things that his birth and lifestyle afforded him. But it’s his visceral passion for the fashion business that makes "They All Came to Barneys" more than the diary of a nepo baby playboy.

Pressman was the loudest voice calling for Barneys to expand into women’s wear. His instincts, connections and flair for experimentation helped his grandfather’s store transform from Barney’s, "a sea of suits, a crammed ocean of sleeves as far as you could see," to Barneys, shorthand for a meticulous brand of New York sophistication (clock the apostrophe, which was dropped in 1981).

In one sense, "They All Came to Barneys" is a cautionary tale: Pressman and his family grew their business too aggressively, entered new markets with too much hubris, diluted the brand and ultimately filed for bankruptcy, leaving an embarrassing trail of acrimony and infighting in the media. Readers seeking Schadenfreude will not be disappointed.

But they’ll also be faced with Pressman’s deep knowledge and sincerity. He deftly weaves his family’s story with the larger history of the American fashion industry. He writes about the designs of Armani, Alaïa, Kenzo and Commes des Garçons with an appreciation for their genius and an understanding of the commercial opportunities they portended.

In 1996, Barneys filed for bankruptcy. By the end of 2004, the Pressman family had sold the last of its shares to Jones Apparel Group. Today, Barneys technically still exists as a brand at Saks, a store that was once a sworn rival of the Pressmans.

Since Barneys officially closed its flagship store in 2020, the space has been largely vacant. Seasonal Halloween stores have occasionally popped up, flooding its floors with cheap costumes and irony. News recently broke that the Watermark Capital Group had acquired the building, with a plan to convert it into 44 residential rental units.

Whether the new incarnation retains any of the store’s look or feel, for some, the Barneys legend will live on. In May, the Parsons MFA graduation fashion show was held at the former home of Barneys in Chelsea. That day, you could heard no fewer than a dozen people breathlessly whisper, "This used to be Barneys," some with tears in their eyes.