DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 31
ment.
Have you ever met anyone
wearing a Betsey Johnson
dress who did not volunteer
what it was? Her fans were
like vegans or people who do
CrossFit; they must let you
in on the secret.
Fr o m Pa r a p h e r n a l i a ,
Johnson gleaned vital busi-
ness lessons. When she real-
ized the store had not con-
sidered who its customers
were as it expanded nation-
ally, she took note. Johnson
later designed each of her
stores, painted the walls,
decorated the windows and
chose the sales help.
This personal touch en-
sured that the clerks got her
sense of humor. She planned
it all with a friend over bot-
tles of wine at Café Un Deux
Trois.
Fashion shows are cre-
ated as events and hers were.
For her autumn 1995 line,
rocker Steven Tyler and Isa-bella Rossellini strutted the
catwalk. The celebs mod-
eling changed over the years
but what stayed the same
was the famous ending to
he r s h o w s — Jo h n s o n
cartwheeling onto the cat-
walk and landing in a split.
Johnson recounts a life of
taking chances. After hatch-
ing an idea some might dis-
miss as kooky, she ran with
it. She may downplay her
business acumen, but she
figured out early who to
trust.
Well, she figured this out
better with friends than
with lovers and husbands.
For a woman whose busi-
ness is based on her taste,
she wound up with lousy
guys.
Johnson moved in with
her first husband not long
after meeting him. The first
and second husbands were
whirlwind romances. She
wed, despite glaring prob-lems, including substance
abuse.
Th e t h i r d h u s b a n d
sounds heinous, and she
stayed in that abusive rela-
tionship for years. The man
had her do weigh-ins to
make sure she wasn’t too
chubby for him. And, he
roughed her up immedi-
ately after the wedding cer-
emony.
With her first husband,
Johnson had a daughter,
Lulu, with whom she had a
short-lived reality show.
Abreast cancer survivor,
Johnson initially wanted to
keep that private, but then
told her story. That proved
her a serial survivor. She
never fell into the drug-
soaked decades that did in
many. Johnson succeeded
in an industry infamous for
rava g i n g p e o p l e. T h e re
were three lousy marriages
and one terrible business
decision.She and her long-term
business partner eventu-
ally sold to hedge fund fin-
anciers who destroyed the
company. Old pal Steve
Madden bought her label,
XOX Betsey, and kept her as
creative director.
Now living in California,
Johnson, at 77, remains op-
timistic. “Maybe I’ll end up
on a whole new path,” she
writes.
Who would doubt her?Fashion Designer Betsey Johnson (main photo)
shows off her clothing line at her SoHo store in- Above left, she shared a happy childhood
with siblings Bobby and Sally. Sketch (top right)
from 1980s shows her sense of joy. As a young
woman she followed her desire to be a
cheerleader and kept that spirit as a designer,
doing cartwheels (r.) at the end of her shows.
/THOMAS MONASTER/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSSS