WhO                     Angela Johnson is a clothing designer, fashion design instructor, Arizona fashion industry leader, fashion business consultant and fashion show coordinator with over 14 years in the fashion industry.  She was honored as Fashion Group International of Arizona’s Rising Star in 2004, Artist of the Year by the Scottsdale Cultural Council’s Chairman’s Committee, Chicest Local Designer by 944 Magazine in 2007 was a finalist in the Scottsdale Fashion Week’s Designer of the Year contest.  She has been featured as one of Arizona's 20 Influential Women by Arizona Foothills Magazine.

Angela is an award-winning, indie designer who handcrafts cutting edge, eco-friendly clothing consisting mainly of dresses created from recycled or “thrifted” T-shirts.  She is best known for her “T-shirt Ballgowns.”  Angela also occasionally designs items commissioned by private clients.  Angela's clothing is sold online, in boutiques nationwide, and at her fashion and trunk shows. 

Angela also co-founded an organization called, Arizona Fashion Foundation and LabelHorde Fashion which provided an industry directory and foundation for Arizona’s fashion industry from 2003 to 2007.  AFF/LabelHorde gained significant recognition and in 2004 made the Top 50 of Phoenix Magazine’s Best Of issue as “Best Bootstraps Effort”.

background     Angela got her start working in design and production for X-Large Clothing, the line owned by Mike Diamond of the Beastie Boys and X-Girl, the line owned by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. 

After working at X-Large and X-Girl for 3 1/2 years, Angela started a street wear line called Monkeywench with actress Christie Clark, who played Carrie Brady on the soap opera Days of Lives and friend, Dana Wilson who she met while attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising www.fidm.com in L.A., California.  With Angela and Dana's education from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and Christie's financial investments, Monkeywench eventually found it's way into boutiques throughout the world and could be seen on celebrities like Pam Anderson, Tommy Lee, Christina Applegate, Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tori Spelling, Leann Rimes, Nicki Cox, Jeremy London, Lisa Rinna, Kevin Connely, the entire cast of Days of Our Lives, and more.  The clothing was also featured on television shows like Jesse, Beverly Hills 90210, Soul Train in Japan, the Pat Bullard Show and Days of Our Lives.  It also could be found in the pages of magazines like Seventeen, Warp, Girl's Life, Sportswear International, Vice, WWD, J-14, Electric Ink, Fresh and Tasty, Barracuda and on the cover of Fashion West.    After Monkeywench closed, Angela created a new line under her own name which has steadily gained popularity as well.  There’s even talk that one of the girls from "Friends" owns an Angela Johnson original, "white collar criminal" shirt.

Present Day      In 2000, Angela moved back to her home town of Scottsdale, Arizona and closed the books on Monkeywench.  She began teaching fashion design classes at New School for the Arts and began designing clothing under her own name.  Then she moved on to teach Fashion Marketing classes at the Art Institute of Phoenix and is currently teaching at Mesa Community College.  She has been honored in the 2004 edition of the WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICA’S TEACHERS, an award which is reserved for only 5% of the nation’s teachers.  In addition, she was selected by the Arizona Department of Education as part of the design team for the Adaptation/Adoption Curriculum Framework Process for Fashion Design and Merchandising to aid in the development of a curriculum framework for students and teachers in the Fashion and Merchandising fields in Arizona.  In 2003, she was approached by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts to organize and participate in the "SMoCA Nights" Runway events where she still occasionally coordinates 8-10 local designers lines, including her own, into one of Arizona’s most notable quarterly, sold out, fashion events.  In addition, Angela is the official local designer “liaison” for Scottsdale Fashion Week and helps to recruit local talent for the event.

Today Angela's designs can be found in a handful of physical and online boutiques as well as her website.  She has a steady following of dedicated customers for whom she designs custom gowns and kitschy art inspired apparel.  Publications such as The Washington Post, Daily Candy, The Arizona Republic,  AZ Magazine, Contact Magazine, Scottsdale Convention Bureau’s Visitor’s Guide, Cover of New Times, Biz AZ, Switch Magazine, Java, Where Magazine, 944, Get Out Magazine, Scottsdale Republic, East Valley Tribune, Scottsdale Tribune, Biz AZ, Arizona Foothills, College Times, Item, So Scottsdale, Lemonade, A2Z Magazine, Ch. 3 news, Ch. 5, Ch. 12 News and FOX News, Inside the Artist’s Mind, America’s Next Top Model cover Angela's shows and feature her and her designs.