Fashion

Conservative vs. Edgy

I. Biography

Betsey Johnson was born on August 10, 1942, in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Johnson grew up in

the nearby town of Terryville as a child, where she indulged in her two greatest loves: drawing and

dance. Johnson was a cheerleader in high school, and upon graduating in 1960 she decided to pursue

her interests in art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. But after one year at Pratt, she

transferred to Syracuse University, where she proved a stellar student, graduating as a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa society in 1964. Almost immediately after graduating from college, Johnson made her

first splash in the New York fashion industry by winning Mademoiselle magazine's Guest Editor

Contest and earning a job with the magazine's art department. Only one year later, in 1965, Johnson

landed a job as a designer at Paraphernalia, an offbeat New York clothing boutique. Fashion Designer

Donna Karan was born 1949, in Queens, New York. She grew up in Long Island with her step-father

who was a tailor and her mother who was a model. Being trained at Parson's School of Design, she

entered the business herself, designing for Anne Klein. Eventually she became head of the Anne Klein

design-team and remained in this position until 1984. In 1985, she left Anne Klein and founded her

own company. The introduction of her DKNY collection in 1988 marks the beginning of a period of

amazing growth of the company.

II. Designer's customers

Donna Karan is known to support the needs of modern women with her clothing. When

designing her clothes, Donna Karan claims not have the top model in mind, but women like herself.

The saying goes, that before the production of a piece of clothes is approved by Karan, it has to look

good on her. It seems, that with Donna Karan clothing, function comes before styling. Betsey Johnson

targeting between the ages of sixteen to thirty year old. More towards the...