02 Aug Betsey Johnson 30 Years In SoHo

New York – Betsey Johnson’s Soho store in New York pulsed with pretty young things in pretty party frocks Thursday, July 31, for a very special birthday party. As guests tried to stave off sweat with glasses of chilled pink champagne, Betsey Johnson and her business partner and CEO Chantal Bacon celebrated the 30th anniversary of their business surrounded by their friends, family and fans. 

  Johnson and Bacon met in 1975 after Bacon moved to New York from London – Bacon was selling Johnson’s children’s wear line at the time – and they instantly clicked, both sharing a mutual glam rock style sensibility and unbridled energy to make clothes.

“We had even dated some of the same men!” said Bacon.

Johnson and Bacon officially launched Betsey Johnson the brand in 1978, on Johnson’s birthday, Aug. 10.

“We were very much in the moment every day,” said Bacon. “There was never a big grand plan, we just wanted to have a nice time, make good clothes and have a successful business.”

“When we started, we were doing everything. It was crazy!” chimed Johnson.

“The first show, I sat everyone, and then I modeled, and the next day I went to the showroom and sold it, and then I paid the bills, and Betsey did the patterns,” continued Bacon.

Johnson’s fashion shows have had a signature Betsey stamp on them from day one. From her famous cartwheel at the end of each show, to performances by the likes of Bjork, to models who actually look like they’re enjoying themselves, she knows how to convey wit and sass.

“Every show that Betsey does is my favorite show,” said Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG Fashion, the company that produces Olympus Fashion Week in Bryant Park twice a year. “She’s the best, and I look forward to it every season.”

Johnson’s collection, known for equal parts edginess and girlishness, hit all the right notes when she was just getting started in the Madonna-crazed ‘80s, with tulle tufted tutu dresses, wildly printed bodysuits and ruffled miniskirts.

“We were on the planet equal to Fiorucci,” said Johnson.

The popularity of Johnson’s archive is one reason why she’s launching the Betsey Johnson Vintage Collection this fall, to revive some of her best loved styles. A lot of the pieces, she says, they didn’t hold on to so she’s been spending a lot of time in flea markets and calling up friends to find some of her long-lost designs. Though, sometimes, Betsey Johnson fanatics beat her to the chase, she said.

“I was at a vintage show and I saw something of mine that I really wanted, but a girl picked it up right before me! I was like, ‘But that’s mine!'” laughed Johnson. “I should have gotten her phone number.

Buy these hot designs from the Betsey Johnson’s official site, or one of these fine online stores