Only the self-taught need apply
Issue #20
Untrained seamstress fulfills the secretarial order
By Rebecca Flint-Marx
Published: June 1st, 2004 | 12:00am
Kim Johnson hates to sew and freely admits that her decision three years ago to open her store, Johnson, was "kind of insane." Given her lack of prior experience in both professional design and small-business ownership, the lady, it must be said, has done pretty damn well for herself.
Planted in a row of boutiques on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Johnson's eponymous store has become synonymous with a style defined by what its owner calls a "teachery, sexy secretary appeal." It's a style directly influenced by Johnson's own experiences in elementary education and the odd secretarial engagement.
Inspiration to open her store struck while working with a friend who had her own East Village boutique. When a storefront at Orchard Street (home to numerous independent clothing designers) became available, Johnson decided to jump in, learning as she went along and acting as her own fit model to cut costs. All of Johnson’s designs, which she describes as "only things that I absolutely would wear," are dictated in vivid detail to pattern makers and assembled locally.
Johnson has found great support from both the Lower East Side design community and her customers, whom she describes as "everyone from Japanese hipsters to women in their mid 40s and 50s." She hopes to keep updating her designs while maintaining their classic, timeless appeal. "I want to see people wearing them years from now," she says. If the past three years are any indication, they will be.
Check out Johnson’s designs online at johnsonshop.com
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