Feelin’ Great at 68!

Think you're too old to wear pink? Take a page from designer Betsey Johnson's style book. Last week, she celebrated her 68th birthday in the hot pastel. From cupcakes to cocktails, Johnson and her entourage even painted the town pink in a stretch Mini Cooper (isn't that an oxymoron?) the hue of Bazooka bubble gum.

Her hair has been that color. Her logo is neon pink.

So clearly the color makes her come alive.

Her idol is an icon for the same reason: Tina Turner

I thought, 'That's the kind of woman I want to be when I grow up.' You know, gorgeous and strong and still performing no matter how old. So I try to be a good old model for young kids."

On Plastic Surgery, she told Nymag.com

I've always loved being out there and up-front about my age, and my surgeries," she said, pointing to her face.

Her advice:

….it's a free country, it's a free life, do what you want. But get a good doctor! For crying out loud, pay the money to have a good doctor!"

We agree, obviously. (See Choosing a Cosmetic Surgeon)

Just days before, she also put another style icon, Eloise (a personal favorite), in the pink at the Plaza in NYC. The 68-year-old designed the perennial 6-year-old's suite at the legendary hotel — and christened the room in a spirit similar to her signature cartwheel at the end of every runway show — by jumping on the bed.

She also admitted to the New York Times that her downtown apartment was just this color. Until recently, that is:

Believe it or not, I'm living in a white boring box now uptown. I just couldn't do pink anymore."

But the pink still comes in the form a pink ribbon. Johnson is a breast cancer survivor.  She freely admits to breast implants, but it was when she decided to have them removed that she discovered a lump.

Now she avidly devotes herself to the cause, in addition to her decades-on design business, and her two beloved granddaughters. 

Her secret to staying vibrantly in the pink? She told NYMag.com:

When you get older, your life shows on your face… I knew that when I was little, so I always tried to have a good life so that I could look good at 68!"

That's worth celebrating at any age.