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Betsey Johnson Sings a Familiar Tune

Although she claimed inspiration for her Fall 2006 "Sweet Betsey" collection came from 1960's prostitutes, in point of fact, Betsey Johnson's latest line contained her usual parade of saucy short-shorts, velvet baby doll dresses, naif-sexy rompers and flirty frocks cut down to here and up to there, making it feel not at all unlike her Spring 2006 "La Petit Betsey" collection and her Fall 2005 "The Bull and Betsey" collection. In fact, it kind of felt like every Betsey collection we've ever seen. But then, Johnson never strays very far from her funky, fantastical, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun roots.

This season she jettisoned the stage side cafe tables present at her last two shows in favor of a more straightforward runway presentation, which kicked off with a trio of leggy lasses in naughty lingerie vamping down the catwalk to the strains of "Hey, Big Spender."

Prince's "Sexy MF" and the Black Eyed Peas' Fergie singing about her lovely humps further hammered home the working girls point, as did the Playbill-like program notes and the dresses themselves, many of which boasted come-hither sweetheart necklines, laced up the front to reveal not-so-subtle swaths of flesh or were so short as to barely cover the models' admittedly shapely behinds.

Usually, though, Johnson manages to deliver the goods in a fairly cohesive way. This time around, however, her collection lacked focus and felt disjointed (perhaps because 58 looks is about, oh, 30 too many) and many of the outfits boasted garish colors that would look hideous enough if worn individually, let alone when grouped together on a single dress, as witnessed in a frighteningly ‘80s-redux red-and-green striped big-shouldered number and a nasty emerald/purple/mustard concoction that made us want to shield our eyes from the horror.

But often, even when presenting a single-color dress, the designer added accessories that purposefully clashed with, rather than complemented, the outfit. Example: A pretty teal cocktail frock was paired with a clunky brown leather aviator jacket and lipstick red velvet platform sandals (which, unfortunately, were the only shoes in the entire collection that we were actually able to see from our not-so-advantageous perch in the middle of the third row). And we didn't get the lame Chanel-style knit suits at all (why Betsey, why?).

Johnson fared better with a two-toned silk jersey kimono-sleeved dress whose burgundy and purple color blocked pattern was reversed on the skirt and torso, and with a lovely patchwork print mosaic silk jersey tunic. And she really soared when sticking to just one color, as in an artfully draped golden goddess dress whose body-hugging horizontal pleats were encased in a second panel of vertical pleats running from bust to hemline. A simple black crinkle taffeta empire waist trapeze dress with tasteful peek-a-boo beaded cutouts encircling the bodice was another winning look.

Overall, though, the collection was a chaotic cacophony of mismatched colors and was crammed with far too many ideas for its own good.

But, as always, the sixtysomething Johnson won back our hearts when she did her signature post-show cartwheel under a banner reading Grandma To Be," and then forced her very pregnant daughter, Lulu, to get up and boogie with her on the runway.

Sweet Betsey, indeed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of this collection.

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