Betsey by Betsey Johnson & Mark Vitulano

Author:Betsey Johnson & Mark Vitulano [Johnson, Betsey & Vitulano, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

With Pat Cleveland and Norma Jean Darden—Spring 1974 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Alley Cat Spring 1973 runway show with Daddy Rabbit

For the first time since I started at Alley Cat, our sales were down, and Leonard was getting jumpy.

He wanted the clothes to get with the times and be more trend driven and I guess more grown-up. He also wanted to be involved with what I was doing. I have never followed trends, and didn’t intend to start now.

I did not like it one bit, but my contract had more than a year left on it. I tried to design the things that Norman wanted, but they were so not me. I did a couple of wrap dresses, which I had done before, but he wanted them in boring and what I considered to be ugly colors, and less expensive fabrics, which to me felt sleazy and cheap looking.

I tried to explain to him that certain shapes required certain fabrications to make them work. I knew he understood, but at the same time he didn’t care. He’d been in the business for years. He may have been a garmento but he was also a good businessman and he was looking at the bottom line. He had nothing to lose. After all, it wasn’t his name on the label.

I gave it my all but my spirit was crushed. If I wanted to leave Alley Cat, I knew I’d have to buy my way out of the remainder of my contract, which I was sure was the right move. It would get me out of the spotlight, out of the drive, drive, drive. So in 1974 I approached Leonard and told him I wanted out of our deal, that I couldn’t fake it anymore. He agreed, and that was that. I left, on good terms of course.

Maybe it wasn’t the best decision I could have made at that moment because I had also made another life-changing decision. I decided that it was time to have a baby.

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