Designer Paper: Betsey Johnson and Elsa Schiaparelli Known for her famous grand finale cart wheel, Betsy Johnson is an edgy ready to wear designer. Johnson was born on August 10, 1942 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Growing up she was a dancer and an artist, Johnson fell in love with the decked out costumes she wore for dance recitals. Being an artist that she is, she enjoyed sketching costume ideas for hours on end. Johnson was very fortune to have a dance teacher who let her make her own costumes for her solo recitals. This opportunity she was given is the reason she became a fashion designer.
Making her dance recital costumes made Johnson realize she really liked designing outfits, this is how her career in fashion began. Johnson said “I realized that making clothes is completing what a drawing can’t be-going from two dimensional to reality. ” (biography. com) Johnson is a very proactive character, she really set the bar high for herself and really shows in her career. A cheerleader throughout high school Johnson graduated in 1960 and decide on Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study art and design. A year later she decided to transfer to Syracuse University and ended up graduation magna cum laude.
Not long after she finished school, she won the Mademoiselle magazine’s Guest Editor Contest where she scored herself a job in the magazine’s art department. While she was there, she managed to create clothing designs and sell them through a boutique called Paraphernalia in her spare time. If she wasn’t already ahead of the game, one year later in 1965, she became a designer at Paraphernalia; a little boutique she was retailing through. Paraphernalia was a very exciting stepping stone for Johnson, it is where she designed her hippie-inspired style with unusually unique fabrics like shower curtains, the interior of utomobiles, and the pinstriped wool from old New York Yankees uniforms.
Johnson is also known for her bright, neon dyes, puffed sleeves, deep necklines, and low waists. In 1970 she left Paraphernalia and started to work for a youthful sports brand called Alley Cat. After a year at Ally Cat, Johnson received the prestigious Coty Fashion Critics Award at just 29 years young and the youngest ever to have received the award. Unfortunately after she raised to the top of the fashion world, she fell because her customer disappeared. On top of all that, Ally Cat went out of business leaving Johnson out of a job.
Keeping herself occupied, she started designing children’s and maternity clothes. Johnson stated “I thought it was all over until Punk started in London. ” “It felt like a reincarnation of the 60s. It felt the same as when I was 22. ” 1978 was going to be one of the greatest years yet for Betsy Johnson. Inspired by the punk movement, Johnson partnered with Chantal Bacon to start their own company soon to be known as the Betsy Johnson label. Together the two of them opened a retail store in Manhattan SoHo neighborhood.
As Johnson says, “She keeps the books, I keep the look. Ever since then, the Betsy Johnson label has been multiplying in size and reputation. Currently the company has 65 stores worldwide, including London, Toronto and Tokyo. This is yet another one of Johnson’s great accomplishments throughout her career in fashion. In 1999 she was awarded the Timeless Talent Award by the council of Fashion Designers of America. Nearly a year later, New York started the “FASHION WALK OF FAME” where American fashion designers are honored with gold plaques that are placed along the pavement of 7th Avenue.
Betsy Johnson was one of those American fashion designers to be honored with a gold plaque. Then in 2004 she expanded her line to include handbags, accessories, hats, and scarves. Five years later, Johnson was awarded the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion. Elsa Schiaparelli Known for her famous shocking pink, Elsa Schiaparelli is an extremely well known haute couture Italian designer. She was born on September 10, 1890 in Rome, Italy. Schiaparelli was the niece of the famous Giovanni Schiaparelli who discovered canals on the planet Mars.
After graduation, she attended the University of Rome where she studied philosophy. Schiaparelli published a book of sensual poetry, the book shocked her parents and sent her to the convent because it was so controversial. She did not like this one bit, so she planned to go on a hunger strike at just 22 vears old and was released. As soon as she was out she ran off to London and became a nanny. In her free time she went to museums and attended lectures. At one of these lectures is where Schiaparelli actually met her husband, Count William de Wendt de Kerlor.
Eventually they moved to New York and had a daughter together, Maria Yvonne Radha de Wendt de kerlor also known as Gogo Schiaparelli. While in New York, Schiaparelli started to sell French fashions at a New York boutique owned by Gaby Picabia. Working there, Schiaparelli made connections like Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. Schiaparelli’s marriage failed and decided to go to Paris with Gaby Picabia and Man Ray. While she was in Paris, Paul Poriet encouraged her to start designing clothes. 1927 was the start of Schiaparelli’s career, she started her own business called “Schiap. “
