Betsey Johnson is a dress designer for the young and young-at-heart, set fashion trends during four decades. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished.
Background
Mrs. Betsey was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States, on August 10, 1941. She is the second of three children born to Lena and John Johnson. She has an older sister, Sally, and a younger brother, Robert. Betsey grew up in Terryville, Connecticut and took many dance classes, which inspired her love of costumes.
Education
Following her graduation from high school, Johnson studied at the Pratt Institute and then later graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University.
Betsey Johnson landed a coveted position as a guest editor at Mademoiselle, a young women's fashion and lifestyle magazine. The short-term guest editorship led her to a permanent position in the magazine's art department. Soon she was sent by the magazine to London in the heyday of the Beatles, bell-bottoms, and belly-baring knit tops.
Mrs. Johnson was so inspired that when she returned to New York she began designing wacky wear for New York's clothing boutique, Paraphernalia. She pioneered the now commonplace use of avant garde fabrics: car interior lining and shower curtain dresses. She imported a wool pinstripe material used for the original New York Yankee's baseball uniform for her "gangster suits."
In the 1970 Betsey Johnson designed slip dresses, drop-waist ballerina dresses, double knit A-line minis, and "nutsy artsy" embroidered sweaters for the Alley Cat clothing line, then for her own New York shop, Betsey Bunky Nini. In 1978, Mrs. Johnson started her own fashion line. Her second collection did not sell well, leaving her with 3,000 pieces of spring clothing and insufficient funds to stage a 1981 fashion show to sell them and Johnson opened a retail store in the SoHo area of New York City.
In the 1990, most of her clothes, available in large department stores and her more than 20 American boutiques from South Beach in Miami, Florida, to the capital, Washington, District of Columbia, sold for under $150. Her young and young-at-heart customers search her out, and they are fashionably faithful. Ms. Johnson ships out dozens of new styles every month to her American boutiques.
In 1991, she launched a new division called "Luxe", which drew from her background in dance. The more expensive line was designed to complement the skirts and leggings that had been her trademark. In 1992 she launched her sweetly sexy swimwear collection of push-up bras, bikinis with petticoats, and skirts in black lace, gingham, madras, and velvet, all priced affordably from $35 to $75. She also unleashed a line of clunky funky women's shoes. And her 1993 line of menswear looked tailor-made for all modernday Robin Hoods: velvet capes and tunics, hooded monk robes, forest and mead-hued caftans, and paisley leggings. That year also brought her own fragrance, a light floral scent of lilies and mimosas. She designed the dress that Lisa Loeb wore in the music video for her 1994 hit "Stay (I Missed You)". Forever evolving, Mrs. Johnson introduced a new "Ultra" collection featuring better fabrics and more elaborate styling and priced up to $500 in 1996.
She started with the British Invasion of America style, hopped on the early 1980 punk bandwagon with safety pins and ripped T-shirts, and kept current with the 1990 rave, grunge, medieval, and deconstructionist fashion movements, all of which began on the streets and in music clubs haunted by disenfranchised youth. As 1995 brought the advent of youthful baby-doll and empire-waist dresses. In 2003, she expanded her line for 2004 to include handbags, accessories, hats, and scarves. In 2008, Betsey Johnson was a contributor to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book Cherry Bomb.
On September 12, 2012, she celebrated 40 years of her brand with a retrospective fashion show with Cyndi Lauper performing. As of May 2013, Betsey Johnson and her daughter Lulu Johnson have a reality TV show that airs on the Style Network. On September 4, 2014, it was announced that Mrs. Johnson would be one of the celebrities competing on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars. The couple was eliminated in week 4, finishing in 10th place.
Quotations:
"I've never had a new or brilliant idea. I just like to make things. The truth is, fashion doesn't really change all that much. I'm still doing the same things now that I was back then."
"Small top, big bottom, that's my shape. And I think it's the shape of most women."
"I'm usually the sparkle in a closet full of conservative clothes. Either that or my customer has a closet full of my clothes and a few conservative suits from Calvin Klein. I think you've got to give a girl what's missing from her closet. If something jazzy, tacky or sexy is what's missing, I provide it."
"With over 3 million women battling breast cancer today, everywhere you turn there is a mother, daughter, sister, or friend who has been affected by breast cancer."
"Real success is being totally indulgent about your own trip. You put your blinders on about the garbage and go full speed ahead."
"I used to design for my body, which was flat-chested with big hips. That's why my clothes were tight on top with full skirts."
Personality
Part of Betsey Johnson's success was her ability to sniff the winds and sense the social and subsequent style and silhouette changes. She has sense of wonder, openness, and a bizarre sense of humor.
Physical Characteristics:
Mrs. Johnson is a long-term breast cancer survivor.
Quotes from others about the person
As Susie Billingsley of Vogue magazine wrote: "She got on the street fashion wagon before anyone. She's always been way ahead of what's hip."
Polly Mellen of Allure magazine said: "Her clothes are fun, female, flirty, slightly aggressive and teasing. Her fashion shows are always witty, fun and slightly shoddy. But in the showroom, the clothes are real and the prices right."
Connections
Betsey Johnson has been married three times. She got married to her first husband, John Cale, in 1968 and they were married until they divorced in 1969. Mrs. Johnson's next marriage was to Jeffrey Oliviere. The two were wed in 1981 and divorced in 1984. Betsey Johnson's current husband is Brian Reynolds, who has been her husband since 1997.