Throughout the late 70s, the 80s and the early 90s, John Jay was the Creative Director at Bloomingdale's. With the goal of expressing the brand's connection to the global creative zeitgeist, he hired world-renowned designers to create the store's shopping bags. Each became an instant collector’s item.
Rizzoli is publishing a monograph of this creative giant's work. Stephen Heller was asked to write an essay for the book, where he celebrated the iconic shopping bags.
He writes: "Jay’s bags lacked the store name or logo...(instead) Jay commissioned unique artists’ bags three to four times a year, depending on what seasonal marketing events demanded. Holidays were frequent themes, a New Year’s bag, a summer bag, fall 'concept' bags and other cultural treats...
"...Jay used these retail opportunities to create bags that represented forms and styles from the edge in other cultures. They were always designed to astound—and morph into a completely different idea from one bag to the next."
Article: John Jay’s Audacious Bloomies Shopping Bags
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