Simon Doonan to Decorate White House for Christmas
The White House will be decorated for Christmas by Barney's Creative Director Simon Doonan. Doonan, who is known for his avante-garde and irreverent window displays at Barney's will bring his unique style to the White House decoration project. He won't confirm that he is the decorator but The New York Timesreports that his staff is already there working hard.
Simon Doonan, famous for creating naughty yuletide window displays of Margaret Thatcher (as a dowdy dominatrix) and Madonna (not the holy one), has a new stage on which to present his brand of mistletoe mischief: he is decorating the White House for Christmas.
Mr. Doonan, the creative director of Barneys New York and a tart-tongued columnist in The New York Observer, was selected several months ago to organize this year's public displays for the holidays, the Obamas' first in the White House, according to a person familiar with the planning.
While the White House wouldn't confirm the choice, several volunteers and florists were gathered at the presidential mansion to begin installing the annual displays over the weekend, after the White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir from Shepherdstown, W.Va., arrived there on Friday.
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Details surrounding this year's decorations have been under tight wraps, but they are expected to include a selection of artworks by children. Certainly, they will be less controversial than Mr. Doonan's displays for Barneys for more than two decades, which have alternatively fascinated and horrified holiday shoppers. Past themes have included hippies, Sigmund Freud, Warhol, celebrities on Vanity Fair covers. At least one American politician. Dan Quayle, in a display in the 1990s, was depicted as a ventriloquist's dummy.
The White House will be open for public tours to see all the decorations.
