Paraphernalia

Betsey Johnson designed wacky wear for New York's clothing boutique, Paraphernalia in 1964.

During the decade, Johnson helped launch the American fashion revolution with her space age silvery sci-fi dresses, see-through plastic shifts with discreet stick-on cover-ups, a "noise dress" with metal grommets at the hem that went clink-clank when the wearer moved, elephant bell-bottoms, and 14-inch metal micro-miniskirts. In those years her designs were worn by style setters such as actresses Julie Christie and Brigitte Bardot, model Twiggy, and Edie Sedgwick. Over the ensuing decades Johnson continued to be an energetic leader in fashion design. As Susie Billingsley of Vogue magazine wrote: "She got on the street fashion wagon before anyone. She's always been way ahead of what's hip."