Betsey Johnson Scores Style Reality TV Series at Age 70

Betsey Johnson is getting her very own reality series. The designer, who turned 70 this week, confirmed the rumors at her birthday party following her Spring 2013 runway show.

And yes, the cameras were already rolling that night for the new series, which will also star her daughter Lulu. The program, airing on the Style Network in Spring 2013, will (naturally) be titled Betsey + Lulu.

And its first episode is bound to be pretty wild. Among the highlights during Johnson’s fete: daughter Lulu popped out of her mother’s gigantic birthday cake and pop legend Cyndi Lauper performed.

Johnson told WWD that she doesn’t watch reality TV shows. “I mean, but I appreciate them,” Johnson said, “and it’s great to have the documentation of what’s going on for me so that other people can share it.”

Betsey + Lulu will follow the mother-daughter team and track their upcoming launch of a new, affordable dress collection next year, timed (again, naturally) to the series’ premiere. Its being produced by Magical Elves and Top Chef and Fashion Star’s Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth are the executive producers.

According to Style Network, the docu-series “explores the unique lives of fashion icon Betsey Johnson and her muse, daughter and confident Lulu as they struggle to maneuver their ever evolving mother-daughter relationship.”

This new gig should ease the pain of Johnson having had to file for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Johnson is famous for doing cartwheels and a split on all her runways. And yes, she did one this week, too — at age 70. Pretty impressive. She is the living personification of the term “young at heart.” And just FYI: Johnson was the first fashion designer this reporter ever interviewed in the late ‘70s.