Simon Doonan

After seeing Simon Doonan speak, I fell in love with him. He is such a personable and charming individual who always thinks outside of the box. I remember he said that he tries to do things the untraditional way and he doesn't like to conform to society's perceptions. The reason why his windows were such a huge success is because of his originality and confidence in his own work. He seems to be fearless when creating concepts for his windows. As an Art/Creative Director, I think that quality is important because he's able to create things that are different, entertaining, and bold. I hope to have such an artistic eye and eccentric personality even at his age. It was humbling to hear and meet a legendary window dresser and creative ambassador.

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.

Creativity of Simon Doonan

Creativity of Simon Doonan

    I did not know about Simon Doonan and his career until I participated in this art talk. In addition, it was a first time that I was in art talk. So the art talk was unique itself to me. He was professional in fashion which I am not interested in, and he was not only creative designer but also speaker. I was impressed that he developed his style in window dress which only few designer did. He stated in art talk that there is no 'good taste' because it is subjective concept and always better idea with better reason. I did not think about this before but his saying was firmly logical. I was inspired and touched in the importance of establishment of one's style from his art talk. I think that is the most interested and inspired explanation about success of designer.