Barneys New York Announces Holiday 2013: A New York Holiday In Collaboration With Shawn 'JAY Z' Carter To Benefit The Shawn Carter Foundation

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- We are Barneys New York, but the city is more than just our name.  It informs our style, our attitude, our outlook.  And we are not the only ones.  Creative New Yorkers throughout history—including Shawn 'JAY Z' Carter—have also used this city as inspiration.  

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This holiday season, Barneys New York, the luxury specialty retailer, will merge our creative approach with that of Shawn 'JAY Z' Carter's for "A New York Holiday," a unique collaboration benefiting the Shawn Carter Foundation. A celebration of the holiday season, "A New York Holiday" will include original interactive windows and exclusive limited edition products, which will live in an immersive gallery space on the third floor of the Barneys New York Madison Avenue flagship.   

As part of "A New York Holiday," Mr. Carter has collaborated with creative directors from some of the most inspired fashion houses in the world to create a collection of limited edition products, including designs from Balenciaga, Balmain, Lanvin, The Elder Statesman, En Noir, Hoorsenbuhs, Just Don, Proenza Schouler, Rick Owens, Stutterheim, Acne Studios, and Cutler & Gross.  Each distinctive item draws inspiration from New York City and is realized in color palettes of black, white, gold, and silver.  Debuts of additional limited edition product by Mr. Carter will also be made available at Barneys New York, including Shawn Carter by Hublot timepieces and a specially designed humidor by Comador.  

The limited edition collection will be available exclusively at Barneys New York beginning November 20^th in a first of its kind immersive gallery space on the third floor of the Madison Avenue store. A significant portion of the third floor has been completely transformed into the BNY SCC Gallery, which was conceived as a creative collaboration between Mr. Carter, visual artist Joanie Lemercier, and Barneys New York Creative Director Dennis Freedman.  The collection will also be available on Barneys.com and in Barneys New York flagship stores in Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.  

"With this project, Barneys New York and I were able to take the slickness, energy, and innovation of New York City and translate that into quality, timeless pieces," said Shawn 'JAY Z' Carter.  "Everything that encompasses 'A New York Holiday'—the items chosen, the amazing designers that participated, the windows, the design of the BNY SCC Gallery—represents a perfect example of a unique and groundbreaking collaboration that I hope demonstrates how inspiring New York has been to me."

November 20th will also mark the unveiling of "A New York Holiday" in the retailer's iconic Madison Avenue windows, in which Joanie Lemercier and Barneys New York will use innovative technology from a global leader in visual solutions Christie®, Inc to uniquely incorporate video mapping, LED light design and projection into the interactive display.

"We are proud to honor our home, the great city of New York, this holiday season—and there is absolutely no one better to collaborate with on this project than the New York born and bred Shawn 'JAY Z' Carter.  He is a groundbreaking musician, a pioneering entrepreneur, and the ultimate creative collaborator," said Mark Lee, Barneys New York CEO. "We look forward to capturing the energy of New York, and merging the vision of Shawn Carter and the style of Barneys New York in this unprecedented holiday event."

In the spirit of the holiday season, Barneys New York will donate 25% of sales from "A New York Holiday" items to the Shawn Carter Foundation. Celebrating its 10 year anniversary, the Shawn Carter Foundation is a New York-based charity which awards post-secondary scholarships to students facing socio-economic hardships. In conjunction with the opening of the windows and the BNY SCC Gallery a high profile fundraising launch event to benefit the Shawn Carter Foundation will celebrate the exclusive collaboration.

Original and exclusive artwork designed by New York City based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh, which juxtaposes the initials BNY [Barneys New York], SCC [Shawn Corey Carter], and NYC [New York City], will be the key visual identifier of the holiday season, appearing throughout the campaign on Barneys New York shopping bags in all flagship locations across the country. 

An omni-channel initiative, "A New York Holiday" will be highlighted on the cover page and inside of the black, white, gold and silver-themed Barneys New York Holiday 2013 mailer, inside all flagship stores and in window displays, on Barneys New York's editorial site "The Window," and on Barneys.com.  The hash-tag #BNYSCC will be used across all social platforms throughout the campaign.

About Barneys New York

BARNEYS NEW YORK (Barneys) is a luxury specialty retailer renowned for having the most discerning edit from the world's top designers, including women's and men's ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and gifts for the home. Barneys' signature sense of wit and style is manifested in its creative advertising campaigns, original holiday themes, and celebrated window displays. Founded as a men's retailer in 1923 in downtown Manhattan, it became an international arbiter of high style for both women and men in the 1970s, renowned for discovering and developing new and innovative design talent. Today, Barneys New York operates flagship stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Scottsdale along with a preeminent luxury online store, Barneys.com, as well as 25 other stores and outlets across the United States. For more information about Barneys New York, please visit www.Barneys.com<http://www.barneys.com/> and explore its luxury content site, The Window, for an insider's look into the Barneys world: a behind-the-scenes visit with exciting designers, fashion, events, and the Barneys team.

About the Shawn Carter Foundation

The Shawn Carter Foundation was conceived of as the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund in 2002 and officially established as a 501(c)3 public charity in 2003 by Shawn "JAY Z" Carter  and his mother, Gloria Carter. The mission of the Shawn Carter Foundation is to help individuals facing socio-economic hardships further their education at institutions of higher learning.  Since its inception it has allocated over $2.3M through its scholarship fund, annual college tours, study abroad experiences, counseling initiatives, holiday toy and meal drives, and other supportive services to empower youth and communities in need. For more information about the Shawn Carter Foundation, please visit www.shawncartersf.com.

About Christie®

Christie is a global visual technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan. Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world's most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world.  From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images. 

SOURCE Barneys New York