Barneys launches women's empowerment window at NYFW

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Feb 8, 2017

Barneys New York will be launching a new set of window displays focused on women’s empowerment. Entitled “We Will Be” the campaign will take over the windows of both the Madison Avenue and the Downtown Barneys New York locations.

The Madison Avenue windows will be designed in partnership with 34 female students from the High School of Fashion Industries, all who will take the opportunity to discuss 'their hopes, dreams, and goals for the future,' according to a statement from Barneys. 

The Madison Avenue store will also showcase two 20-minute-long short films created in partnership with Makers women’s media and leadership platform. The videos will feature messages from leading women across many disciplines, such as Alicia Keys, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lena Dunham, Jane Fonda, and Gloria Steinem.

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The company has also created custom video for the window broadcasts, compiling footage of strong women throughout history, including segments of Malala Yousafzai’s speech at the Youth Assembly at the UN, Aretha Franklin’s performance at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and footage from the Women’s March on Washington last month.

Fashion is getting political this season, taking big steps to support women's initiatives this upcoming New York Fashion Week. The launch of this Barney's campaign comes just one day after the CFDA launched its own women's empowerment initiative. The CFDA will be handing out “Fashion Stands with Planned Parenthood” buttons to all guests, models, designers, and PR representatives who attend New York Fashion Week, along with information on the services the women's health non-profit offers.

In the past, Barneys has been a strong advocator for women’s rights through social media outreaches. The department store has partnered with Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn campaign, urging customers to consider the 62 million girls across the world who don’t have access to basic education. Barneys has also collaborated with Amy Schumer’s Style Fund initiative, an initiative aimed at helping women feel confident in their own body. Both of these projects asked customers to take photos of themselves using the correlating hashtags, tagging @BarneysNY in the process.