Barneys New York to star in series on Amazon Prime video
Barneys New York is getting the series treatment several months before it is scheduled to make its brick-and-mortar comeback.
Amazon MGM Studios has given a series order to “Bella From Barneys,” a new drama from creators, executive producers and showrunners Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage of Fake Empire. The series will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The show will follow Bella Baldwin, an outer-borough outsider with an eye for style, who lands a job in the stock room of the newly-revived Barneys New York, according to a release. She goes on to become a personal shopper to the store’s most notorious socialite clients, and is then pulled into a cutthroat world of fashion and family secrets, and into the orbit of the heir fighting to save the family business.
Barneys is owned by Authentic Brands Group, which purchased the retailer’s intellectual property out of bankruptcy in late 2019, and closed its physical stores. Veteran luxury executive Richard Cohen has formed a firm with Eric Appelblom called One Luxury Solution to open Barneys New York stores in Florida, with the first expected to open in Naples, in early 2027.
They were granted the exclusive licensed rights in the state by Authentic.
“At Authentic, our brands are stories, and Bella from Barneys shows what's possible when iconic IP meets world-class storytelling,” said Corey Salter, CEO of entertainment at Authentic. “We're excited to bring its legacy to the screen with Fake Empire. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who are unmatched at creating stylish, character-driven drama, are the perfect stewards for the Barneys brand.”
The show will be set in in a fictitious Barneys in Beverly Hills, reported WWD, as opposed to the company’s legendary store in New York City.
“The opportunity to build the fictional world of Barneys is a dream for us,” said Schwartz and Savage. “Barneys was more than a store; it was a New York institution, a cultural touchstone, and a world unto itself. We’re so excited to open those doors along with our partners at Authentic (Authentic Brands Group), and our fellow producers Susan Rovner and Rachel Kaplan, who we have worked with since the beginning of our careers.”
