There's nothing rockabilly about this outfit, and she didn't say it was. She's been into rockabilly style, especially in the past, but not so much any more. The mention of rockabilly upthread was in reference to the cherries used in place of the letter "o" in her name on Twitter, not this outfit.
Anyway.
Betsey Johnson has spent the last 40 years designing clothes for 14- or 15-year girls who like to fancy themselves as into punk style, but who aren't really punks at all. And, for a time way back when, she actually did sell clothes to teenagers.
But since about 1990, the only people I see who love Betsey Johnson and her particular trashy aesthetic are well out of their teens. They're more likely to be the same women who coveted Betsey Johnson clothes as teenagers in the '80s, only now they're in their late 40s to mid-50s and want to re-live their "punk" heyday. Go to any live show featuring the band X, and there will be at a dozen middle-aged women wearing Betsey Johnson in the audience. Roughly half of those will be fat, so they will be the ones buying her shit from Torrid. And that's the only demographic I see wearing her clothes, especially when she starts splashing leopard print on everything. And velvet--does anybody under the age of 45 wear velvet these days?
So Tess is just another fat mawm desperately trying to look cooler than she is, and failing. And I really hope Torrid pays Anna to show off the new Betsey Johnson line, both because it will be fucking hilarious, and be a nice "fuck you" to Tess.
