I didn’t know John Cale was married to the fashion designer Betsey Johnson. MoMA PS1 happens to be a convenient stop on the E train, the train we were taking from JFK to our hotel in Chelsea. And PS1 happened to have one of the best shows in New York at the moment, abstract work by Black artists from the past fifty years, a show called “Hard Art.” We spent the afternoon here in the old schoolhouse, and we loved the show. I am studying my photos from the show now and will post a few tomorrow.
“New York Fashion at PS1, 1980–1984” was easier to digest. A side show at PS1, it revisits the museum’s Fashion Program, initiated in 1980, with reconstructions of experimental installations by Charles James and Betsey Johnson.
Johnson apparently misremembered the year they were married. It was 1968, not 1966 as her graphic shows, at New York City Hall. City Hall officials initially refused to let Johnson get married because she was wearing bell-bottom pants under a burgundy crushed-velvet tunic. Women were restricted from wearing pants in official buildings and some public spaces at the time. Instead of leaving to change, she took off her pants right in front of the judge and proceeded with the ceremony.
Johnson wore her crotch-length burgundy crushed-velvet tunic and later changed into an eight-inch miniskirt. Cale wore a black canvas suit designed by Johnson. Sterling Morrison was the best man. Lou Reed, Nico, Andy Warhol, Paul Morrissey and Viva were in attendance. The marriage was short-lived.
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I was at a memorial gathering in an apartment on the deep lower east side a few yrs ago, and was asking questions about the neighborhood and how its evolved over the years, when someone pointed to the door across the street and said “Betsey Johnson lives there” It was a surprise to me, I didn’t know she lived in town. But then there’s always a new surprise. I just learned that Neil Diamond grew up 2 blocks from where I live.