Transcript
A (0:10)
You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. One book conversation that really resonated with our Instagram followers was all about a beloved department store, Barney's New York. Barney's was founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman and was built into a phenomenon by his son Fred. Later it was steered by his grandsons Gene and Bob. A new memoir from Gene Pressman details not only the store's humble beginnings, but what it was like to grow up in the family business. It gives an insight into the behind the scenes workings of the international fashion market. You learn about being on the lookout for new talent. Like in 1976 when they spotted a young man named Giorgio Armani at and signed him to an exclusive deal. The book is called they All Came to A Personal History of the World's Greatest Store. And listeners, you'll hear some calls chime in during this conversation. But because this is an encore presentation, we're not taking any callers today. I began the conversation with Jean Pressman by asking why now was the right time to write about Barneys.
B (1:25)
Well, everything is timing, that's true. And you know, there've been many things told and written about Barney's over the years and some of it was true and some of it was folklore and some of it was false. And I just felt that I wanted to set the record straight and separating myself as much as I could, which was an interesting exercise in writing this book. I thought it was, I was lucky enough to live that story. I mean, it really is a good story in so many ways. It's a New York story. It's a family story. It's a creative story. It's during certainly in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was a very creative period in New York and in the universe for that matter. So it was special to be there. And I think also New York grew up then. You know, I used to say that the people uptown would never go below 42nd street because they were afraid to get a nosebleed. So because in those days, downtown didn't really exist, soho didn't exist, Tribeca didn't exist, Chelsea didn't exist. The West Village did. But you know, in a much limited way, in the East Village you could get a rental for 250 and all the rats you know, you wanted.
A (2:56)
So you say in the book, and this is very clear, that it wasn't a department store, that it was a specialty store.
C (3:04)
What set Barney's apart?
B (3:07)
Well, the, the specialty store comes from its roots, which was It's Stars, a men's store. And so most men's stores, when they're on their own, are specialty stores. They're not carrying anything except specifically menswear. So that's what specialty store means. But, you know, people confused, I think Barney's as being a department store because it was as big as a department store, but it had the mentality of a smaller store. And, you know, we were sticklers when it came to that. We, we wanted to make sure that it was very creative. It changed a lot that the accountants stayed in the back rooms and that the creatives were out front. And it's also our approach to, to the customer. I, I used to have a saying that never give the customer what they want because they don't know what they want. They want you to show them. So I was a major Beatles fanatic. So I always used to think it was like the magical mystery tours as.