Lady LUX

Known as the creative force behind the beautiful displays at Barney’s New York, Simon Doonan is now being asked to apply his passion for holiday decorating to a new project.

Target has asked Doonan to design costumes for Halloween, which is also Doonan’s birthday.

“This project really resonated with me,” Doonan told Women’s Wear Daily. “The holiday is huge and it’s growing.”

Aptly titled “Costume Couture by Simon Doonan for Target”, the collection isn’t your average mash up of witches, princesses and superheroes. Instead, The New York Observer writer uses his love of humor and the English language by incorporating innuendos and societal commentaries into many of his garments. One in particular looks especially familiar.

“I worked on this in the wake of the Salahi debacle,” he said regarding an off-the-shoulder red dress and another costume of a paparazzi emblazoned with the words “Say Cheese”. The Salahis, now fixtures on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of D.C.”, stirred the government’s pot by crashing the White House dinner. The red dress is very similar to the one Michaele Salahi wore to the dinner. He found their obsession with fame very entertaining, thus inspiring one of his looks.

Doonan found himself taking a “life is stranger than fiction” approach to his work. Instead of basing his creativity in figurative storylines, he found tons of material in reality TV. Well, the “reality” part could be negotiable.

“People on reality TV get to be exhibitionists,” he said. He noted reality TV celebs such as The Situation from “The Jersey Shore”, who served as inspiration for his Pumpkin Punk Rocker costume.

The collection will hit stores on Sept. 12 and will be online as early as Aug. 22.

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