Betsey Johnson
With over 45 stores worldwide, Betsey Johnson's designs have a global reach. She has continued expanding her clothing line by adding handbags and accessories and is recognized for her versatility, while still being true to her vision.
"Making clothes involves what I like … color, pattern, shape and movement … I like the everyday process … the people, the pressure, the surprise of seeing the work come alive walking and dancing around on strangers. Like red lipstick on the mouth, my clothes wake up and brighten and bring the wearer to life ... drawing attention to her beauty and special ness … her moods and movements … her dreams and fantasies."
Betsey Johnson a.k.a “The Queen of Funk,” was born on August 10, 1942 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Johnson is a world-renowned fashion designer known for her versatile, whimsical, sometimes over-the-top, yet feminine fashions.
Growing up, Johnson took many dance classes which she considers to be the inspiration to her love of “costumes”. After graduating high school, she went on to study at the Pratt Institute and then later earned a degree from Syracuse University.
If you would have asked anyone back then if they thought that Betsey would make a name for herself in the fashion world, all would disagree.
But, her fashion career kicked off in 1964, when she entered and won Mademoiselle Magazine’s “Guest Editor Contest”. Within a year she made her way to the position of in-house designer for the trendy Manhattan boutique, Paraphernalia. This boutique was famous for showcasing all the newest fashions from up and coming London designers. Here Betsey was able to establish for herself a solid foundation for building her later fashion empire by designing clothes that were sexy but whimsical and was able to tastefully put the “fun” in funky. She had the ability to make flirty clothes out of cellophane and decorate them with pieces of hardware, and yet never failed to emphasize the femininity of the woman wearing her clothes.
In 1969 Johnson opened up her very own boutique called Betsey Bunki Nini in New York's Upper East Side. And since she was proudly part of Andy Warhol's underground scene, which included artists such as The Velvet Underground, a band which included Betsey’s husband John Cale who wore Betsey’s fashions on stage, Edie Sedgwick and Lou Reed. Johnson was able to convince Sedgwick to be her house model, and had the opportunity to design the clothing that Sedgwick wore on her last film, Ciao! Manhattan.
In the 1970s Johnson took control of the fashion label "Alley Cat" which was popular with the rock 'n roll musicians and provided most of their wardrobe. She hit a tough spot in her life when her and husband Cale called it quits in 1971, they have one daughter together, Lulu.
Even though she built somewhat of a good reputation for herself so far, nobody would put money on her when she decided to start her own company. “Could she really build a successful business around silver micro minis and pink tutus?” they would think. Johnson thought so. It was the late 1970s, and punk rock was the rage. It was her big chance. So she scraped together some savings, including money she'd earned starring in a Bayer aspirin commercial, and along with ex-model Chantal Bacon, started the Betsey Johnson clothing label in 1978.
That same year she opened up her first retail store in Soho. A few years later she opened a second store on L.A.'s Melrose Avenue, helping to propel that street to its current recognized status. Her third store opened in Venice, California soon after. Today, there are over forty five of her stores worldwide. Her clothes are now sold in 1000 department stores and specialty shops from New York to Europe to Japan. In 2005, her empire generated around $50 million dollars in revenue, and is continuing to grow.
Johnson is one of the few designers today who has avoided the trend toward consolidation, and owns the majority of her business. “We’re not brilliant, big-boy garmento movers and groovers," she says, "but we've had a wonderful, enjoyable, panicked, crazy, happy time over the past 25 years--all because we own it."
Betsey Johnson’s versatility and her undeniable ability to change with the times, while still being true to her vision, may be her greatest talent. This ability was recognized early in her career when she won the coveted Coty Award in 1972 and she was the youngest designer ever to win that award. In 1999, the Council of Fashion Designers of America gave Johnson an award they'd created just for her. They called it the Timeless Talent Award, in honor of her durability in a field known for fickle trends. "She's always mined the same roots," says Stan Herman, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, "very few people have been able to raise their arms and hold the hands of the clock like Betsey."
In 2002, Johnson was inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame.
Financial independence has allowed her to stay true to her design sensibility, which she tweaks to keep up with changing fashion trends. In 2003, Johnson decided to expand her line to include shoes, lingerie and jeans. She continued expanding her line in 2004 by adding handbags and many other accessories.
Betsey endowed modeling runways with a sense of fun by having her models always dance for the photographers, and she created a reputation for herself as the only designer to do cartwheels on the runway after almost her every show!
She has a clear and pure vision of how clothes should function: exuberantly.
Betsey Johnson’s designs can be seen on many Hollywood icons such as Courtney Love, Sarah McLachlan, Minnie Driver, Paris Hilton, Salma Hayek, and Heather Graham. However, her influence reaches beyond just the Hollywood scene. It has been felt in architecture and interior design, not just on fashion. And as a survivor of breast cancer, Johnson remains an advocate in fighting the disease, creating one-of-a-kind items for auction and serving as Honorary Chairperson for the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer initiative.
"If Betsey Johnson didn't exist, we would have to invent her, simply to remind ourselves that fashion can be fun. She's the original wild child and set to paint the town pink!"
http://www.swinginchicks.com/betsey_johnson.htm
http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/betseyjohnson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsey_Johnson
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040401/25johnson.html