Minnie Mouse Goes Anorexic for the Holidays at Barneys

Electric Holiday Minnie Mouse, Barneys New York

If you were a cartoon mouse, how would you envision yourself as a runway model?

Would it be the same super-skinny vision as that from a chain of high-end luxury retail stores? For Barneys New York, that mouse stands long and tall with a pink cocktail dress and a cheerless frown.

For an emerging group of model-mouse dissidents, this mouse is no Minnie. The high-end department store is catching flack after previewing the polka dot-less rodent for a debut in its Madison Avenue Electric Holiday window display on Nov. 14. In Barneys’ defense, the transformation only occurs in a short animated film where Minnie fantasizes that she is in a Paris fashion show.

Both companies told the Daily News in a statement they were saddened by critics’ attempts to distort their holiday campaign into a social cause to attract media attention. The Electric Holiday characters include Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Cruella De Vil and Princes Tiana.

The standard Minnie Mouse will not look so good in a Lanvin dress,” Barney’s creative director, Dennis Freedman told Women’s Wear Daily. “I said, ‘If we are going to make this work, we have to have a 5’11” Minnie,’ and they agreed.”