Barneys Boring?

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Word on the street—okay, on Cathy Horyn's NY Times blog—is that Barneys New York is on the verge of going all mainstream. The new management has already dumped the store's longtime, much-beloved super-cool fashion director Julie Gilhart and Judy Collinson, the women's fashion general merchandising manager and hired two Gucci North America alums. Horyn proposes that Barneys' "cool factor" is on its way out—and the store's longstanding support for young New York designers along with it. What would a mainstream Barneys even look like? We're thinking Harvey Nichols? Or Printemps? Will Barneys become a Saks Fifth Avenue clone? Watch this space. [On the Runway]