Designer Report : Betsy Johnson

In the 1950s, the fashion industry was based mostly around teenagers and young adults. Before this time, adolescents were expected to follow in their parents’

The 1920’s fashion was a period of liberation, change, and even more importantly a movement towards the modern era. Fashion in the 1920’s varied throughout the decade but one could see the noticeable change from the previous fashion statements and eras. At the start of the decade, women began emancipating themselves from the constricting fashions by wearing more comfortable apparel. As women gained more rights and World War I forced them to become more independent, flappers came to be, mass-produced garments became available, and artistic movements increased in popularity, one can see how the fashions from the roaring twenties characterized the time and redefined womanhood. (1920s clothing 1)

Was raised in New York City and attended Radcliffe College. After her graduation, she decided

From newspaper articles in 1964 announcing the London Look, to an article by Mary Quant in Vogue in 1966 and an article at the end of the decade that declared the return of Paris Power, young people in the U.S. had the opportunity to read and examine British contributions to fashion and make decisions about whether to adopt or not. The 1960s in the United States was a turbulent time –a decade of political and social upheaval. The youth quake of British styles helped to set a new energetic pace for America and a means to deal with the turmoil. College campuses in the U.S. were often the place of change and acceptance of new ideas and thus a place to study the

Lisa was formerly a Fashion Design Director working and living in New York City traveling to France, England, Italy, the Netherlands, U.A.E., China, India, Taiwan & Pakistan ferreting out the latest designs and working with the factories creating beautiful textiles in woman’s fashion at Fortune 500 companies.

A thorough and broadened knowledge of American clothing’s history opens wide, the opportunity to explore the American identity. Helen Sheumaker’s “American Fashion” discusses the relationship between political values and their influence on different clothing styles. The Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History provides insight about how the clothing fashion was indicative of a person’s class. Certain clothing styles distinguished specific communities like the wealthy and the working class yet simultaneously gave a clear distinction of the liberal American style from the proper and trim of the

Washington Irving’s depiction of Katrina Van Tassel is that she was “a little of a coquette” and liked to mix older and modern fashions—“she wore the…stomacher of the older time; and withal a provokingly short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle” (Irving 325)—because they accentuated her best features. Add in her beauty—“a blooming lass

Throughout the 1920s through the 1950s Women’s clothing in America was affected by World War II, which lead to the exploration of different styles, the encounter of new trends and the exchange of ideas and new styles.

Marjorie Browne attended LeMoyne High School, a private school for black students because her father and stepmother wanted her to reach her full potential. After high school, she then attended more than 1 college including Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Betty grew up in the small town of Crossett, Arkansas. Her high school days — aside from term papers, book reports, and science projects — were filled with the things that girls of the 50s enjoyed most: bunkin’ parties, football games, sock hops, “going steady,” drive-in movies and watching “The Ed Sullivan Show.” She loved the important details of fashion, including saddle shoes, poodle skirts, cat’s eye glasses and cashmere sweater sets.

In 1965, she changed jobs and moved to Paraphernalia in New York to be a designer for them. Working at Paraphernalia is where she created her alternative, whimsical, slightly hippie-esque style. Five years later, she took creative control of Alley Cat, where she stayed until they went out of business in the mid 70’s.The 70’s were a tough decade for Johnson, as her “youthful demographic” grew up and stopped buying her designs. When Alley Cat went out of business she kept money coming in by doing freelance design work in children’s and maternity clothing. In 1971 she was the youngest designer (age 29) to win the Coty Fashion Critics Award for her work at Alley Cat. It wasn’t until 1978 that she felt like she could come back with the revival of punk. "It felt like a reincarnation of the 60s.It felt the same as when I was 22." She worked with famous artist Andy Warhol and fellow designer Mary Quant to pioneer the “Youthquake” movement

Diane von Furstenberg is one of the world’s most successful fashion designers of our time. Born in Belgium in 1946, she founded the Diane von Furstenberg company in 1972, when she first came to America with a suitcase full of jersey dresses. Two years later, in 1974, she created the famous wrap dress for the working woman that we all know today. The dress was made out of drip-dry jersey cotton, as Diane’s intent was to create something feminine that was also easy to care for. By the mid-1970s, the wrap dress had revolutionized American women’s apparel. It was extremely versatile as it could be worn both as a comfortable business dress and also as an evening gown. In just a two-year span, by 1976, there were over one million wrap dresses sold. During this time, the wrap dress became a symbol of of power and independence among an entire generation of women. Today, the original wrap dress is at home in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ( Diane von Furstenberg had quickly become a powerful fashion icon as she directly related to the driven minds of the career-oriented woman.

Fast forward to Chanel’s young adult life, and you can see it wasn’t long off that she would set up shop in Paris, France in 1910, eventually expanding out to Deauville, and then Biarritz. She had started off with designing, and marketing hats which became a very successful hit amongst the fashionistas of that day. Chanel’s empire was growing exponentially, and in 1920 she expanded into the realms of couture now working in jersey which at the time was unheard of in the French fashion circle. Soon she was blurring the lines of what was acceptable, setting fashion trends instead of adhering to the routine, and was giving way to entire style genres such as the “chemise” and the “little boy” look. Her fashion statements were a gigantic contrast to what was socially acceptable, and of course Chanel fell under scrutiny over it, but she went on to create more casual, shorter, and idyllically “liberating” clothing for the day’s modern woman. In essence she was liberating women from the stuffy, confining fashions that they were used to, and giving way to a loose more relaxed style all together while maintaining it’s inherent feminine charm. Chanel was creating more than just a design, or an article of clothing, she was creating a movement that would change the way society viewed fashion in it’s entirety. (Lewis)

The 1920s was a period of change and reform in many things ranging from entertainment, consumerism, and fashion. Fashion, one of the greatest changes in the 1920s was influenced by designers such as Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, Clara Bow, also known as the “It Girl” all influenced fashion for both women and men in the 20s. Previously, women had to behave polite and modestly and had to wear long dresses down to the ankles. But some women started to go past those social boundaries that were set by society. These women would go to speakeasies and smokes in public. The women who did these things are referred to as flappers. Men and some women saw flappers as a disgrace and were disgusted by their way of living. Slowly, as the years began to pass, women such as Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Clara Bow came into the fashion and entertainment industry changing the fashion and women’s ideas.

The Years between the 1950’s and 1960’s was an explosive time in fashion. The 50’s represented an out coming of the new generation. People began to gain their own personal style and appearance, influenced by films and singers (“Vintage Fashion”). Their styles incorporated leather, jeans, corduroy, and the ballet shoes for the girls. Men’s wear began to drastically change. Men would wear a leather jacket, with jeans that narrowed at the bottom, and a simple t-shirt (Peacock 210-211). This was the first time in history that jeans were not just worn by the working class but by all men (“Brief History”). The man’s lust for flesh grew during this time, so women’s skirts began to get shorter and the bikini was invented. Clothes were made to glorify the female body and emphasize every curve. It wasn’t until the Barbie doll was created in the late 50’s that young girls began to have a separate fashion from their mothers. Young girls would wear sweaters with full skirts or pants