Fashion Week: Betsey Johnson Fall 2010

A robber wielding a black pistol. A gambler wearing bandanas and a gun holster. A saloon girl showing her backside to a crowd full of onlookers. Did I mention I’m talking about a fashion show?


Betsey Johnson turned Fashion Week into a tale of the Wild, Wild West, complete with love, sex, romance and guns. Walking in stilettos atop a hay-filled runway, models, including the newly-thin Kelly Osbourne (please hit me up with diet secrets!), were transformed into a gang of robbers, gamblers, bandits and saloon girls. Though the fashions were fitting of a Western battle, the looks were still brilliantly trendy and wearable.


The Western bad boys embraced the menswear trend with top hats, suspenders, tuxedo shirts, camouflage-colored dresses (with gun prints!) and striped looks. The fair ladies wore fur-lined frocks, corseted silhouettes, ruffled dresses, hot pink jumpsuits (so sexy and flirty! I need one in my closet) and prairie skirts. 


The makeup was just as adventurous and effortlessly sexy. Backstage, the head makeup artist, Sarah Lucero for Stila, chatted with me about the inspiration behind the look. “The inspiration is Brigitte Bardot in a French Western film [Las Petroleras] that Betsey was inspired by,” said Lucero. “It’s all about that smoky, blacked out eye. Lashes are very straight and exaggerated. It’s like a doll eye.”

To create the sexy 60’s look, “the skin was kept bare with a matte foundation using Stila one step makeup and a peachy pale lip.” To get those sexy, smoky eyes, “apply eye shadow in Chinois all over your lids as a base. Use Espresso on your lids and crease and Ebony to line your upper and lower lash lines.”  Finish the look with “black cream liquid liner and loads of mascara.”

I thought this sign was soo cool and had to snap a picture! Betsey rocks my world.

No Brigitte Bardot look is complete without sexy, voluminous hair. Sebastian Professional lead stylist, Thomas Dunkin, described the look as “60’s cowgirl with pigtails and lots of volume.” To recreate it, “spray Sebastian Professional Volupt Spray” for volume and texture. Blow dry hair and “set it with rollers,” for height and body. Channel your inner cowgirl by separating hair into “loose, messy pigtails.” The pigtails should be “sloppy and asymmetric. Nothing too perfect,” Dunkin added.

Models hanging out backstage.

The finished look.

While messy pigtails are the perfect hairstyle for the saloon girls, the models dressed as “bad boys” chose mustaches for their hair look. The gangleader was a sexy Kelly Osbourne, who walked with puppy in hand wearing a menswear-inspired look, a bandana and a pistol. The theatrics didn’t end there. 

In a special tribute to Alexander McQueen, a model walked the runway holding a “Long Live McQueen” sign. So beautiful and touching! 

And to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the models spelled out “LOVE” in sequins on their backsides.

Betsey Johnson, however, stole the show with her signature cartwheel at the finale. The icon wore a striped black and white suit (with a sequined heart on her butt) and a mustache. She was trailed by a parade of models carrying giant hearts.

It was clear the audience, which included my personal style star, Fefe Dobson, and Melissa Joan Hart, was thoroughly entertained by Betsey’s free spirit. And boy, did we need it. Dealing with Alexander McQueen’s death and the weight of the recession, the fashion industry can definitely use Betsey’s fun-loving energy, now more than ever. Nothing like guns, garters and cowgirls to lift the spirit! Check out pics of the collection below. 

Kisses,

Coutura