Betsey Johnson Fall 2014

If you want to get your fashion party mojo going, go to a Betsey Johnson runway show. She never disappoints when it comes to a festive celebration seen through the lens of fun, frolicky, and sometimes raucous, party clothes.

And after more than forty years of creating collections, Betsey Johnson knows her customer extremely well. She knows where her consumer is going, what kind of parties she likes, her taste in colors and fabrics and more importantly how far to push it; which in most cases is through the roof.

For fall 2014, it was classic Betsey Johnson all the way, giving her rock n’ roll, party girl lots of options. Though there was nothing drastically new about this collection—no new silhouettes, innovative construction, or new textiles—the collection was not dated or old. And that’s saying a lot in that Betsey referenced American Hustle or the wild antics of 70s disco.

Betsey found a way to make that hey, beep, beep stylish sex vixen very 2014 with still a wink and nod toward the “bad girls” of the 1970s. Now it would be best advised not to wear one of the head-to-toe creation in this collection at certain time day. You don’t want to be a mistaken for a certain kind of “working girl.” Still, there was lots of fun and great separates that can add that special kind of Betsey Johnson bling to your fall 2014 wardrobe.

The real standout in this collection was color, and lots of it. Shiny color, sparkly color, neon color and bold, bold color, especially Betsey’s color of the moment, RED!!  That’s right, hot, saucy, sizzling, in-your-face RED!!

This collection indubitably proved that Betsey Johnson is back. But then again, she never really went away.

—William S. Gooch