Fashion Flashback #2
A wild Betsey Johnson show from 1998
Known for her youthful, sexy, exuberant fashions, Betsey Johnson has been designing since the 1960s and has developed a devoted and varied following. “On my very first trip to Europe as a singer-writer for Blue Angel, I bought a Betsey Johnson hot-pink sweater with zippers all along the front of it,” recalled Cyndi Lauper of one of her favorite Johnson purchases. “It was pink punk. And it was an affordable, fashionable sweater I could wear as a rocker, on my first rock-and-roll tour in Europe. I never forgot the way that sweater made me feel…[Betsey] helped even middle America get a little funky and sexy.” This classic video of Johnson’s Fall 1998 show (which includes an appearance by Naomi Campbell) captures all the flirty, forward-thinking hallmarks of her work. And it’s capped off in the traditional Johnson way—with the designer treating the crowd to a runway cartwheel.
