American fashion designer best known for her feminine and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered “over the top” and embellished. She also is known for doing a cartwheel at the end of her fashion shows.
Johnson’s fashion career started after she entered and won the Mademoiselle Guest Editor Contest. Within a year, she was the in-house designer for Manhattan boutique Paraphernalia. Johnson became part of both the youthquake fashion movement and Andy Warhol’s underground scene, along with The Velvet Underground, Edie Sedgwick and Lou Reed. In 1969, she opened a boutique called Betsey Bunky Nini on New York’s Upper East Side. Edie Sedgwick was her house model and Johnson designed the clothing 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 of the day. In 1978, Johnson started her own fashion line. In the eraly 1980s she opened a retail store in the SoHo area of New York City. She designed the dress that Lisa Loeb wore in the music video for her 1994 hit Stay (I Missed You). In 2002, Johnson was inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame. In 2003, she expanded her line for 2004 to include handbags, accessories, hats, and scarves. In 2008, Johnson was a contributor to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna’s book Cherry Bomb. The National Arts Club awarded Johnson the 2009 Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion. She once described her style as a formula: “Take a leotard and add a skirt.” As of 2011, she had more than 65 stores worldwide. On April 26, 2012, Betsey Johnson, LLC filed voluntarily for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On September 12, 2012, Betsey Johnson 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.
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