Betsey was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the second of three children born to Lena and John Johnson. She has an older sister, Sally, and a younger brother, Robert. Betsey grew up in Terryville, Connecticut and took many dance classes, which inspired her love of costumes.\n', '

Following her graduation from high school, Johnson studied at the Pratt Institute and then later graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University where she was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta women\'s sorority. After graduation, she spent a summer as an intern at Mademoiselle magazine.\n', '

Johnson\'s fashion career started after she entered and won the Mademoiselle Guest Editor Contest. Within a year, she was the in-house designer for Manhattan boutique Paraphernalia. Johnson became part of both the youthquake fashion movement and Andy Warhol\'s underground scene, along with The Velvet Underground, Edie Sedgwick and Lou Reed. In 1969, she opened a boutique called Betsey Bunky Nini on New York City\'s Upper East Side. Edie Sedgwick was her house model and Johnson designed the clothing Sedgwick wore on her last film, Ciao! Manhattan.[citation needed]\n', '

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