Simon Doonan Talk

Simon Doonan Talk (Extra Credit)

I really enjoyed the discussion on Tuesday, October 14th with Simon Doonan. Displayed in the backdrop throughout the event, images of Doonan appeared in the backdrop. These images showed him posing with other fashion mogels, flyers to his most popular events, and the variety of his style. As a creative ambassador and fashion mogel, Doonan started in the department store industry. Eventually, he was placed as a window display creator and his career took off from there. After considering traditional store window etiquette, Doonan felt it best to break those very rules. He created gory windows, bloody windows, creepy windows, extremely busy windows, disturbing windows, and more. For him, it was about attracting the viewers attention through obscurity.

He then went on to discuss his place within the fashion world. Although this is true, he surprising stated that he does not judge others' outfits. I found that quite interesting. He feels that people should wear what they want to wear and what they feel most comfortable in; it is not his place to dress anyone. Doonan even gave an example. He remembered the time he was invited to be on the show "Fashion Police." However, Doonan felt uncomfortable on the show because he simply didn't have much opinions on the people's clothing choices. Needless to say, he wasn't invited back. Additionally, Doonan pointed out his own shirt. He knew that he liked it, but also knew that most men of the world world would neither like, nor wear his shirt. This was completely okay with him. Towards the end of the discussion, Doonan informed us that although he was able to have free range of his window display designs, it first took him learning and understanding the concepts before ever breaking away from tradition. The discussion was entertaining and I am glad I was able to attend.