Newyorkette (Carolita Johnson) is an ex-fashion industry escapee who now works as a cartoonist and maintains Newyorkette.com. Her cartoons have been published in The New Yorker, The Complete New Yorker, “The Rejection Collection I & II” and many more publications. She offers an interesting perspective on the industry for new fashion students.
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1) You are a cartoonist but you have quite the history with the world of fashion. What would you say was your biggest role in fashion before you left it all behind to become Newyorkette?
My biggest role in fashion was as a fashion model. I was momentarily famous in Europe, but never got rich. I still model in New York, but not in the glamorous end of the business. Now I just do fittings, which I’m perfect for now that I’m nearly “normal”!
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2) I heard also that when you were a model you had a fight with Bjork…?
No, I never had a fight with Bjork! Not at all. Someone must have misunderstood the story of how I was to open Jean-Paul Gaultier’s show (years ago) in a certain outfit, and just before the show began, Jean-Paul came up to me and apologetically told me Bjork had not liked her outfit, so he had told her to walk around the racks of outfits lined up for the show and choose whatever she liked and that she’d chosen my outfit. (As it happened, she chose the outfit with the big number “1″ on the hanger — I’d like to think that being in a rush to do the show and go to her next gig was what made her choose it!). I was gracious about it at the time, but it was to be my last show for Jean-Paul while I took a break to go back to university, and I really would have liked to have ended on a high note! So I would go around telling the story with mock indignation for a while. 
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3) To become a cartoonist did you attend school?
No, I went to Parson’s School of Design hoping to take illustration or fine art, but my parents wouldn’t hear of it. They wanted something more money-making. So, I took fashion design, which I didn’t give a rat’s ass about. My plan was to get the BFA and sneak off to another university later on.
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4) Wow, so you got to go to one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the world. What was that experience like?
