Betsey Johnson
Brand
Betsey Johnson is a fashion line started by Betsey Johnson and former model Chantel Bacon in 1978. It was Johnson’s aspirations to be a dancer and her love for costumes that laid the foundation for the line’s creativity and inspiration. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished. Decades later, she's still producing frilly retro dresses and sexy brightly designed separates. While countless brands describe themselves as “flirty” or “sassy,” Betsey exemplifies both. Johnson's fashion career started when she entered and won the Mademoiselle magazine Guest Editor Contest in 1964. Within a year she was the in-house designer for the Manhattan boutique, Paraphernalia. At that time, Johnson became part of the fashion movement and Andy Warhol's underground scene. In 1969, she opened a boutique called Betsey Bunki Nini in New York's Upper East Side. A year later, Johnson took control of the fashion label "Alley Cat" which was popular with the rock 'n roll musicians of the day. After a decade of designing for other labels, Johnson started her own fashion line and then opened up her first retail store in Soho which sold whimsical dancewear-inspired creations while also tapping into a punk-Warholian aesthetic. In the early 80’s, they were one of the first to open a store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, helping the street to gain its worldwide recognition as one of the best shopping areas of the 1980’s. By 2003, Johnson had expanded her line for 2004 to include handbags, accessories, hats, and scarves. Betsey Johnson, both the woman and the label, is constantly moving forward and continues to keep a strong foothold in the fashion industry with no signs of letting up anytime soon. Her love of detail and design is evident in everything she does in life and in business. Her enthusiasm, creativity and boundless talent that have kept her at the forefront of fashion for the past 40 years will keep Betsey going for years to come. As Betsey herself has said, “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 products wake up and brighten and bring the wearer to life…drawing attention to her beauty and specialness…her moods and movements…her dreams and fantasies.” It is her creativity and brightness of design that continues to shake up the fashion world in making others see just how fun and fantasy-like clothing has the potential to be.
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