Simon-etic! Simon Doonan Talks About Time, Work, Love & Balance

If I had a dollar for every time I read something Simon Doonan wrote and said, Damn, I wish I could write like that, I'd have ... well. clearly it would be something fabulously clever, were I able to write like Simon Doonan. And so he's written another massively hysterical book, and he stopped by the Barney's on Oak Street to sign books, make hysterically funny chitchat and espouse general pithy cleverness is the most erudite, clenched-teethed British accent ever. I was fortunate enough to interview him as he was signing books for fans ranging from Brooklyn hipsters to old guys in trucker caps, but here's some Q&A just for you:

SWAGULOUS: Your position at Barneys, the NY Observer column, the books -- how do you fit it all in?
DOONAN: I am very organized, and I am very disciplined. I never procrastinate about writing. I am insanely productive.

SWAG: Really? Are you kidding?
DOONAN: No -- when I wrote my first book, I'd get up at 5 am, write, and go to work at 8 am. I am just very compartmentalized -- when I am at the Barney's Design Studio, I am completely focused on what 's in front of me, it's the opposite of ADD. I just interviewed Madonna for the cover [of Interview magazine] and she has an insane level of drive and discipline. She's on a whole different level.

SWAG: How do you make sure you have time for your relationship, too? [with design guru Jonathan Adler, as if anyone doesn't know!]
DOONAN: At the end of the day, this is it. Jon and I sit and watch trash TV. We entertain a lot. In the evening, I don't work. Like these people who are always checking their email at night -- that's not work, that's neurosis.