Betsey Johnson
Betsey Johnson, Betsey Johnson takes the train to the Hamptons, but the commute is getting to her. “I’m swearing after last weekend that I will never leave on Friday again,” the designer said at the launch party for By Invitation Only, a novel set in the Hamptons. “I should be retired. I’m basically screwing up because I’m not retired. I’d like to go in four days a month, something like that,” Johnson told us. She wants to travel, and says she and her partner, Chantal Bacon, have been working on a succession plan for a year. “My partner and I, we both want to know what would it be like to get up in the morning and go, ‘What do I do today?’” Johnson said.
Johnson believes Eric Sartori, who previously designed for Vera Wang, Hervé Léger, and Azzedine Alaïa, will become the brand’s head designer. “He is the one,” she says. “He’s much better than I am. He just has to Betsey-fy himself.” Johnson wants to hand over the reins after her September show. “But I’ll be a megaconsultant. I’ll go in. I want to be like Ralph [Lauren]. Like, I always imagined the perfect life is like Ralph, where he goes in, and his wonderful expert crews show him work, and he goes, ‘Love it, love it, love it, um, we’ll just put that aside for the moment, love it, love it, hmmm.’ You know what I mean?” she said. “And be that — be the inspiration, the light at the end of the tunnel, the fairy godmother that comes down.”
Johnson says she’s never been able to let go, and she and her partner never feel anything is right “unless we do it or tweak it or correct it. … And we’ve got to learn to get over that, because we want to wake up and have nothing to do,” she says. “And it is very, very hard to find your clone. It makes you figure out what you are and why, and is that working, and is that what you stand for, and is that what the business goes forward with? It’s really difficult, and I highly suggest thinking about it in your forties instead of your sixties.”
Betsey Johnson takes the train to the Hamptons, but the commute is getting to her. “I’m swearing after last weekend that I will never leave on Friday again,” the designer said at the launch party for By Invitation Only, a novel set in the Hamptons. “I should be retired. I’m basically screwing up because I’m not retired. I’d like to go in four days a month, something like that,” Johnson told us. She wants to travel, and says she and her partner, Chantal Bacon, have been working on a succession plan for a year. “My partner and I, we both want to know what would it be like to get up in the morning and go, ‘What do I do today?’” Johnson said.
Johnson believes Eric Sartori, who previously designed for Vera Wang, Hervé Léger, and Azzedine Alaïa, will become the brand’s head designer. “He is the one,” she says. “He’s much better than I am. He just has to Betsey-fy himself.” Johnson wants to hand over the reins after her September show. “But I’ll be a megaconsultant. I’ll go in. I want to be like Ralph [Lauren]. Like, I always imagined the perfect life is like Ralph, where he goes in, and his wonderful expert crews show him work, and he goes, ‘Love it, love it, love it, um, we’ll just put that aside for the moment, love it, love it, hmmm.’ You know what I mean?” she said. “And be that — be the inspiration, the light at the end of the tunnel, the fairy godmother that comes down.”
Johnson says she’s never been able to let go, and she and her partner never feel anything is right “unless we do it or tweak it or correct it. … And we’ve got to learn to get over that, because we want to wake up and have nothing to do,” she says. “And it is very, very hard to find your clone. It makes you figure out what you are and why, and is that working, and is that what you stand for, and is that what the business goes forward with? It’s really difficult, and I highly suggest thinking about it in your forties instead of your sixties.”
In 1964 and at the tender age of 23, Johnson landed the job of top designer at the hippest boutique on the block, Paraphernalia. Her designs were sold alongside those of Mary Quant and Paco Rabanne and her collections were an absolute celebration of the times. Hippy-inspired, fresh and floaty, bold and colourful, they stood in stark contrast to the monochrome Mod look of the mid-sixties and she soon became part of the fashion/art scene. Edie Sedgwick, wild-child and starlet of Andy Warhol's movies, became her muse and Johnson began hanging out with his crowd at The Factory. In 1967 she married John Cale of The Velvet Underground (divorcing him four years later), after having dresssed him both on and off stage. I know this woman has stories to tell.
Since setting up her own label in 1978 she has famously finished her runway shows by cartwheeling down the catwalk - a tradition she keeps up to this day despite being in her sixties. Her jewellery line was not added until recent years but already she has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Accessories Council. Her colourful, quirky collections are not for the shrinking violet but are ever so wearable and if you ever wanted a statement piece you need look no further. Enamelled skulls, feathers and rhinestones, multi-chains and full-on embellishment - what's not to love? OK, some may say they are slightly on the trashy side but I would prefer to call them kitsch.
Betsey Johnson is as relevant today as she's ever been; a strong, successful woman and a true survivor with 65 stores worldwide. In London we are lucky enough to access her whole jewellery collection at her Covent Garden store. See you there!
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