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\u201cI go from the cheap, sparkling wine, up to a couple sips of Cristal,\u201d says fashion designer Betsey Johnson, sharing her impartial love for the bubbly. \u201cChampagne is very up. It\u2019s like an energy drink.\u201d If that\u2019s the secret to the 71-year-old\u2019s hustle, spunk, optimism and trademark cartwheel, we say pop that bottle.<\/p>\n
Of designers past and present, it seems Johnson is singular in the goodwill that surrounds her. Even before her starring role in the Style Network television show XOX Betsey Johnson, she was known as much for her brightly hued, #allpinkeverything designs as for her exuberant personality and striking appearance: funky, blond hair, dark eye makeup and a swipe of bold red lipstick.<\/p>\n
Popping onto the scene after winning Mademoiselle magazine\u2019s Guest Editor contest in 1964, she launched the Betsey Johnson label in 1978 (with partner Chantal Bacon), and the rest is herstory. \u201cI don\u2019t move with the industry; I spin my own wheels. I never studied fashion design, or took a business course\u2014I\u2019ve operated on pure common sense, logic and simplicity,\u201d says Johnson, reflecting on her decades in the biz. \u201cYou stay yourself, but you\u2019re flexible\u2026or you\u2019re a real bitch and you finally get your way because they realize that\u2019s your job,\u201d Johnson says, noting that she is far from the latter. <\/p>\n
Years of vintage clothing, design samples, accessories and shoes cram the designer\u2019s workspace in New York City\u2019s Garment District. With space on rows of clothing racks at a premium, tulle skirts are hung from the ceiling. A rainbow of costume-like pieces finished with sequins, ruffles and loads of flounce display Johnson\u2019s signature playful aesthetic. If Johnson\u2019s clothes were a character in a novel, she would be bright, smell of rosebuds (one of her trademark prints) and wouldn\u2019t be afraid to take chances.<\/p>\n
Originally from Wethersfield, Connecticut, Johnson dreamed of being a Rockette after taking dance classes, and was inspired by her instructor, who happened to be an amazing costume designer. \u201cI\u2019m pretty much the last person in the world you\u2019d think was a fashion designer,\u201d confesses Johnson, who describes her personal style as, \u201cRagged on the edges. Anything goes, as long as you love it. Wear what you want. At the end of the day, I like comfort\u2014psychological comfort, and physical comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likening her current designs to a vegetable soup of inspirations from throughout her career, Johnson has always succeeded by making what she wants to wear. \u201cIt was really amazing to have a work life that pretty much came from my life. Now I\u2019d just like to be more young than old, and dress more young than old,\u201d she says, laughing.<\/p>\n
In the same way that Johnson has never really strayed from her trademark beauty look, her designs are also quintessentially Betsey. \u201cI stick to what got me here and just tweak it,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cPeople don\u2019t change that much, so if you stick to your look, your customer will stick to you.\u201d In a very competitive industry, she remains true to her design formula. \u201cNo matter how much you try, you can\u2019t produce anything that isn\u2019t you\u2014there is always someone else who feels it, and can do it better,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n
Hers is a look that celebrities and label hounds alike flock to, if not for the punky designs than for the affordable price point. \u201cI remember when Katy Perry just started and she would come by and go through my vintage,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cI would get to meet my favourite people because they wanted to meet me and wear my stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n
Affordability is top of mind for Johnson, and she believes the same goes for her customer. She has always maintained that anything with a price tag above a round-trip ticket, hotel included, to Puerto Rico was not worth buying. \u201cThere were people who went into my stores and even now that will pay anything for stuff, but that doesn\u2019t keep me in business,\u201d she says. \u201cEven I\u2019d rather go to Puerto Rico than buy a dress.\u201d <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Johnson\u2019s loyal fans couldn\u2019t keep her out of the red. Amid financial woes, in 2010, footwear retailer Steve Madden took over as the parent company of Betsey Johnson after paying off a defaulted loan. Then in 2012\u2014the same year Johnson celebrated her 70th birthday with a Spring\/Summer 2013 Retrospective Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week\u2014the Betsey Johnson retail chain declared bankruptcy, closing all 63 of the designer\u2019s freestanding boutiques. \u201cI didn\u2019t intend to go bankrupt, but that\u2019s okay. The transition from bankruptcy to back-in-action as Creative Director was difficult, but I\u2019m very happy again,\u201d assures Johnson. \u201cOf course in the middle of it, I didn\u2019t think that was so wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now available in 2,000 specialty stores\u2014including department stores Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and Macy\u2019s, plus online at BetseyJohnson.com\u2014the designer is hardly slowing down, even as she turns 72 this summer. (Johnson was awarded the Timeless Talent Award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1999, and received the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion in 2009.) \u201cIt\u2019s in my DNA. My energy usually comes from panic, or competition, or nervousness. In New York, you work and just keep spinning and you have to keep a certain energy level or you just can\u2019t make it here. Only when I go on vacation, after a couple of days, do I realize how I really feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
No longer involved in the business side of her label, Johnson is solely focused on the creative aspects of the brand, including certain areas she won\u2019t release control over: fashion shows, BetseyJohnson.com, showrooms and editorial photo shoots, to name a few. \u201cIt has to be my way or the highway enough of the time. I know it\u2019s a volume brand, but I needed to carve out when they\u2019re killing me and when I\u2019m happy,\u201d she says, adding, \u201cBecause I\u2019m not that grey person in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
Married three times, it\u2019s her first husband Velvet Underground musician John Cale\u2014whom she was married to from 1968 to 1971\u2014that Johnson still expresses love for. But it seems one of her longest relationships may just be with Brandon Aldridge, her assistant of almost 11 years. Throughout our interview Johnson includes Aldridge in the conversation, requesting input on responses, and sharing a laugh while contemplating a new, potential energy drink. \u201cCould you imagine, Brandon, if I put champagne and Red Bull together? I\u2019ve never had a Red Bull. I\u2019m scared. It makes you start flying.\u201d <\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s appreciation for her extended work family is obvious. \u201cI\u2019ve always lived by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be nice out there, and you get nice back,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t wine and dine and schmooze with the industry people at all. I just think you should work happily with the whole team, because it takes the team to make it all happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Far from being a prima donna, Johnson tells stories of freelancing everywhere and of sitting down at sewing machines to produce garments at factories in places like India, Morocco and China\u2014small acts that helped Johnson gain respect for knowing the job behind as well as in front of the runway. \u201cYou have to be able to do it all yourself,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd give out the vibe that you\u2019re excited, because if you don\u2019t make it good for everyone, you don\u2019t make it good for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s eternal optimism seems to always be on her side. Of her bout with breast cancer in 2000, Johnson says she takes the good with the bad, adding that she chooses positivity over prayer. \u201cIt\u2019s better to wake up and be positive, even when you\u2019re not feeling that way at all. I\u2019m just happy to be alive another day,\u201d she says. \u201cIts sounds dramatic, but it\u2019s a good thing to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skip to her Spring\/Summer 2014 show, and Johnson is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: Lipstick, Diamonds, Champagne and Rock & Roll to close the runway show, hand in hand with her daughter Lulu and adorable granddaughters, Layla and Ella. Of the T-shirt, Johnson explains: \u201cI never pop without red lipstick. I have one diamond bracelet, but that\u2019s like a dream item. Champagne\u2019s totally necessary\u2014I\u2019m a 5 o\u2019clock somewhere kind of girl. And rock & roll is absolutely necessary. Those are the four important things in life. Then we could add grandchildren, but that would be the grandma T-shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson shares that her favourite designers include Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier. She treasures a pendant she bought her daughter. \u201cShe was about five. I decided to buy her this beautiful Bvlgari gold, astrological, round pendant. Now I wear that every day,\u201d says Johnson adding, \u201cI rarely find anything exciting enough to want to buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She names being on the runway with her family as her biggest thrill\u2014a tradition Johnson has kept alive since Layla was born. But for everyone else, it\u2019s her infamous cartwheel\/splits combination that she executes every show that make her runway appearance so memorable. \u201cIt\u2019s the scary point in the show for me. The cartwheel can be crooked, or off balance, but the splits I never worry about\u2014I was an acrobat, so I never really tightened up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though Johnson has managed to remain relevant for more than 30 years, she decries trend chasing as a fashion rule. As we wrap our interview, she offers up this big-sisterly advice: \u201cDon\u2019t try to copy Vogue Magazine\u2019s fashion pages. The biggest mistake is trying to be too trendy and not really loving what you\u2019re wearing. I love fashion when it enters a time of doing your own thing; wearing things the way you want to. There are no rules. Be yourself, don\u2019t copy, and don\u2019t be the fashion wannabe\u2026or do it, but enjoy it.\u201d Of course, with the ever-rollicking Betsey, if it\u2019s not fun, it\u2019s not worth doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI go from the cheap, sparkling wine, up to a couple sips of Cristal,\u201d says fashion designer Betsey Johnson, sharing her impartial love for the bubbly. \u201cChampagne is very up. It\u2019s like an energy drink.\u201d If that\u2019s the secret to the 71-year-old\u2019s hustle, spunk, optimism and trademark cartwheel, we say pop that bottle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":89379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[287],"tags":[2865,9830,443,3,11431,32026,32025],"class_list":["post-89378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-betsey-johnson","tag-designer","tag-designer-interview","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-interview","tag-interviews","tag-throw-back-thursday"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89380,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89378\/revisions\/89380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/fashion-and-style\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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