Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103200129
SECTION: SPRING FASHION PAGE: E-24 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The designer, once dubbed the "perennial flower child" of fashion, set trends from the start of her career.
In 1964, she was among an elite group of young designers crafting creations for the cutting-edge boutique, Paraphernalia. The chic New York shop catered to beautiful people like Jackie Kennedy, Julie Christie and Twiggy, and built Johnson's reputation.
The look of the '60s "wasn't so much a fashion trend as it was a lifestyle," Johnson said in a phone interview from the Atlanta Apparel Mart last month. "It was a statement of who you were and what you believed in. You defined who you were by how short your skirt was."
Johnson's innovative styles, from bell-bottoms to Day-Glo bikinis, earned her fashion's coveted Coty award in 1971. She was 29, the youngest designer to ever receive the honor.
After 25 years in the business, Johnson, 48, has become part of the fashion establishment. She has a showroom in New York and 12 stores in cities across the country.
But she still has the soul of a rebel.
"I'm not very connected to the industry and the market and the fashion magazines, and I very rarely go shopping," she said. "I really like that I've built my own little world in a way."
So while fashion is fascinated with '60s-inspired looks this season, Johnson has decided to take a different path.
Her clothes will never be completely without the influence of the decade: "Every collection has the bell-bottoms and the miniskirts and the tight and sexy," she said.
But "for spring and summer, I find myself more inspired by the '40s and '50s - the Barbie doll, Brigitte Bardot look, the funny Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, fantasy Hollywood-esque, like Marilyn Monroe," Johnson said.
That spirit is evident in outfits from flirty gingham separates to full-skirted satin dresses.
The collection goes "from modern to old-fashioned," Johnson said. It includes "more comfortable stuff as well as the tight, sexy stuff. And stuff that's obviously for kids as well as stuff that's more subtle and sophisticated."
Though the season's '60s-esque styles aren't a major focus for Johnson, she'd be the last to shoot down their comeback. After all, she made her career with stretch fabrics and see-through plastic dresses.
"The designs can hold up anytime because they were just so clean and so Johnson modern. Form followed function. It needed its rebirth," she said.
"My daughter Lulu, who's 15 . . . loves all that '60s stuff because she's never worn it before. "I love it because it reminds me of the good old days."
But the '90s versions of '60s clothes are different because times and attitudes have changed, Johnson said.
"As much as a '60s look is coming back, it just ain't the '60s. There's no one fashion trend that I think will ever take over" like the look did then, Johnson said.
Now there's "no one direction" in fashion, she said. "You just wear what you want, what makes you feel good . . . and if you want to be trendy, fine. There isn't a feeling that you have to dress one certain way anymore."
Johnson keeps that individualism in mind when she designs.
Some of her outfits are inspired by her daughter, she said. "I love my younger customers. I feel very in touch with the kids."
At the other end of the spectrum, Johnson doesn't forget the older, more established fan. "Her priorities are far from her wardrobe," she said.
Johnson's goal is to give both groups a real reason to buy. She wants the girl or woman who buys her clothes to "feel something kind of great - a kind of uplifting emotional experience. Like you're buying yourself a present," she said.
To achieve that end, Johnson's designs have gotten "a little more special" over the years, she said. "I'm not concentrating on the basics."
With her stores, in cities including New York, Los Angeles and Miami, "I have found sort of a true-blue customer that likes my work and keeps coming back," Johnson said.
"People kind of know what we're all about and can depend on that. I'm glad we're at that point."
by CNB