BETSEY JOHNSON CREATES THE PERFECT NOD TO MOD FOR FALL 2012

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, and again, and again.  I love Betsey Johnson.  Just when Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is becoming more exhausting that enlightening, you step into the Tent at Lincoln Center and the excitement begins to return as you wait to find out what Betsey has planned for this season, and it’s always the more real fun than any fashionista has a right to expect to come rolling down the runway.

For Fall/Winter 2012, it was all about “Betseymania”.  It began with a group of screaming girls filling the tarmac, awaiting the arrival of the Fab Four.  Then the clothes arrived, taking us on a nostalgic journey to Carnaby Street in the sixties, fun, colorful and wonderfully mod.

There were skin-tight herringbone pants paired with a leather motorcycle jacket.  A black-and-white plaid suit was all business, well, except for the micro-mini skirt on the bottom.  Nothing was left out, from psychedelic prints and bright faux-furs to a hippie-chic maxi in green and, yes, pink.

There were styles you could wear, and then styles you could only dream about wearing, like a flirty black and silvery sparkly party dress, and a second with a gold-lame tutu.

By the time Betsey’s trademark cartwheel had come and gone, and three generations of Johnsons were taking their congratulatory walk down the runway, spirits were lifted, followers of fashion were re-energized and everyone was set to leave just a little bit happier.  I don’t know if ‘60s London was so much fun, and so fashionable, but I hope it was, and I’m glad I got to take this Magical Mystery Tour with Betsey Johnson.

Photography: Anton Brookes