Authentic Brands Group is getting more serious about the Barneys New York relaunch.
As it prepares to open a 10,000-square-foot store in Naples, Fla., in the first quarter of next year, it is also working with Amazon MGM Studios on a new series that will air on Amazon Prime Video.
Called “Bella From Barneys,” the series from Fake Empire producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage of “The O.C.”, “Gossip Girl” and “Sterling Point” fame, will tell the tale of Bella Baldwin, billed as “an outer-borough outsider with an eye for style,” who lands a job in the stockroom of the newly revived Barneys New York. When she is elevated to a personal shopper for the store’s most notorious socialite client, she’s pulled into a “cutthroat world of fashion and family secrets, and into the orbit of the heir fighting to save the family business,” according to the promotional material for the upcoming show, which is being produced by Authentic Studios.
No air date has been set for the series and it’s not tied to the opening of the Naples store, according to an Authentic spokesperson.
The series will be set in a fictitious Barneys in Beverly Hills, not New York, and the real founding family of the retailer, the Pressman family, has no involvement, the spokesperson said.
“We’re thrilled to be continuing our partnership with Amazon and are excited for what’s ahead,” said Schwartz and Savage. “The response to ‘Sterling Point’ has been incredibly gratifying, and we’re so happy to be returning for a second season alongside creator Megan Park and producing partners LuckyChap. At the same time, the opportunity to build the fictional world of Barneys is a dream for us. 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 and our fellow producers Susan Rovner and Rachel Kaplan, who we have worked with since the beginning of our careers.”
Rover and Kaplan serve as executive producers with Corey Salter, Colin Smeeton and Matthew Gross of Authentic. The series will air on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
“At Authentic, our brands are stories, and ‘Bella From Barneys’ shows what’s possible when iconic IP meets world-class storytelling,” said Salter, chief executive officer of entertainment for 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 return of the real Barneys store is being led by veteran luxury executive Richard Cohen who formed a firm with Eric Appelblom called One Luxury Solution to open Barneys New York stores in Florida.
No plan to return Barneys to its original home in New York has been disclosed, although Authentic has said it is in discussions about finding a home in the city. The brand management and entertainment firm purchased the intellectual property of Barneys out of bankruptcy for $271 million in 2019.