Designer Love: Betsey Johnson

      In a world where trends are fleeting and your reign as best-of-the-best lasts only mere minutes, there are thousands and thousands of designers. In this world of designers, there are a few that hold a very special place in my heart. I wouldn't call this post Designer Love, more like Designer Obsession.

      Before you think this is going to turn into a history lesson, I promise you, it's not! I am here to tell you why and what I love about this designer! Just a heads up.

      Betsey Johnson was the first designer to really catch my eye and for very good reason!

Her frilly dresses, in bright pink and blue hues, had me hooked the moment I saw the 2009 collection. They were vintage-inspired, bubblegum pop beauties. As I scrolled though her website like a lovesick puppy, I knew right then that I had to have one. And I because of my savvy skills with eBay, I got became the very proud owner of one of her masterpieces-- a black Poison Ivy cocktail dress.

It still fits to this very day!

(Excuse the terrible make-up and awkward that the first picture reeks of. Everybody had an awkward stage, this was definitely mine.)

Just a little tidbit of information about Betsey Johnson: Betsey was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Her love for fashion came from the costumes she saw while taking dance classes. After high school Betsey studied at the Pratt Institute and then went on to Syracuse University. She then won a guest editor contest for Mademoiselle magazine and started an internship there for the summer. This was only the beginning of her fashion career.

After her internship ended, she was given the top designer position at Paraphernalia, a boutique that held many young, famous names from London. She then opened a boutique, Betsey Bunky Nini, on New York's Upper East Side where she designed clothes for Edie Sedgwick's last film Ciao! Manhattan. From there, Betsey took over the brand "Alley Cat", which did exceedingly well with the "punk" scene. Her first collection sold amazingly, reportedly bringing in nearly $5 million.

Not long after, she started her own namesake brand, which didn't do as extraordinarily well. Even though her success wasn't large in the beginning, she pushed her sexy, playful designs forward. Despite her rough beginning with this brand, she knew how to stay with the trends and even though the business of fashion chews designers up and spits them out after their fifteen minutes of fame, she managed to stay on top of the fashion world, making herself a household name very quickly.

Since all of this Betsey has won the Coty Award, been awarded the 2009 Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion, and has been inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame. She has had countless runway shows and her designs have graced some pretty big names. Her clothing brand has turned into much, much more. Her brand now includes jewelry, watches, swimwear and purses.

Today, Betsey is 70 years old and fabulous, to say the least! She still does a cartwheel at the end of every show and her punk rock princess designs have only gotten better! Currently you can catch her and her daughter Lulu's new reality show 'XOX Betsey Johnson' on the Style Network.