Betty’s Bio
Before there was Betty there was Beth. Beth Ger
s, a Miami native with lots of creative juice but nowhere to channel it. That is, until the day that an old friend, China (of China’s Closet, L.A) mentioned that she had to run or she’d be late for school. What school? Beth asked. Fashion school she replied and immediately bells and whistles went off.
From that moment it was on. Beth registered the following semester at International Fine Arts College in Downtown Miami. She excelled in this environment and graduated with honors in 1998. She dabbled in the industry as a freelance stylist with Giorgio Armani and Neiman Marcus and as a freelance writer for the Fashion Times newspaper. She was later hired at On Gossamer lingerie. But Beth wanted more. She wanted to create. She wanted to shine. So she tried what she knew…lingerie.
And with that Betty Bangs was born, a playful line beautifully detailed, with a 50′s pin-up feel to it. She packed up the collection and in 2005 headed to Vegas to attend a couple of trade shows. The response was phenomenal, but it wasn’t long before she found out she was over her head in production issues, not to mention funding. So it was back to the drawing board.
With leftover fabric from the original line, Beth started making bikinis and wearing them to the Sunday boat parties off the coast of Miami at Elliot Key. Needless to say, they were a hit. By now she had a reputation to uphold but with limited funds for fabric, she cut a bikini from a leftover promotional Betty Bangs t-shirt to wear the following week and everybody WENT CRAZY over it!
The next week she cut an AC/DC tee, made it into a hot little bikini and blinged it out with Swarovski® crystals. It was then she knew she was on to something…and with that the summer of ’06 was hers. She had managed to created somewhat of a following. She packed up some samples and headed to South Beach. Every boutique she went to placed orders on the spot, Astoria, The Shop, Soho.
On the way back home she stopped at Tina B. in Coconut Grove, Curves & Waves in Coral Gables, Studio LX and Lisa’s Boutique in South Miami. She came home with enough work to keep her busy for a couple weeks, which actually turned into a couple of months because no sooner than she’d drop them off they’d be calling for more. That’s when Beth’s friend Penny came to her rescue and began helping her day and night to bang out these bikinis. And while they did a great job at filling orders, it was too much work to be able to grow the business.
Nevertheless, they kept at it. But all work and no play makes Betty a dull girl!! During a mini-get-away in the Keys for Labor Day weekend, Beth (who by then everybody knew as Betty) met Hilda. Instantly they hit it off and it wasn’t long before Hilda became a good friend and a big fan of Betty Bangs
Throughout the next couple months during casual conversations they had discussed taking things to the next level. But nothing serious ever came out of it. It wasn’t until a trip to Vegas at The Hard Rock Rehab pool party that Hilda experienced the overwhelming response (outside of Miami) from wearing one of Betty’s suits. Full of excitement, she headed back home to Miami and asked Betty…”Are you ready?, Are you freakin’ ready?”… And Betty replied, “Let me guess, you got
in Vegas.”