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Betsey Johnson This versatile, creative “Queen of Funk” gave the world her over-the-top rock and roll fashions. Betsey Johnson, at age sixty, has been rocking the fashion industry with her unique, cutting edge styles for thirty-two years now. Betsey was born in Connecticut and spent her childhood in dance classes. Where she developed a love for movement and costumes, which laid the foundation for Betsey’s creativity and her inspiration to design. In the early 60s Betsey studied at the Pratt Institute and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University. She moved to Manhattan when she won Mademoiselle magazine’s “Guest Editor Contest”, where she worked as an illustrator of shoes. In just one year she was offered a position as a top in-house designer for Paraphernalia, a hip, Manhattan boutique that at the time housed the hottest young London designers. She continued to expand and took creative control of the Alley Cat label. She freelanced in the mid 70s and designed everything from dancewear to kids clothes, to patters for Butterick. The Betsey Johnson label as its known today came soon after, known for her flirty over-the-top designs she never fails to impress with such creativity. After a decade of designing for other labels, Betsey decided to make a dramatic change in her life, and in 1978 she formed a partnership with Chantal Bacon and started the Betsey Johnson label. Designing for herself allowed Betsey the creative freedom to be able to follow her own set of rules.
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