In Two Years, Steve Madden May Own Betsey Johnson's...Everything

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When you've got money troubles, you call up your grandparents. When you're the fabulously eccentric designer of an eponymous brand, you apparently ring Steve Madden.

Betsey Johnson LLC, who is currently in default, has just taken a $48.8 million dollar loan from Steve Madden Ltd, who already owns a license for several of the company's accessories. This time around, though, a lot more is at stake.

If Johnson's company can't come up with the moolah by August 2012, Steve Madden's company would both own the brand, and seize personal belongings of company CEO Chantal Bacon (with a name like that, this job was clearly her destiny) and Betsey Johnson herself.

According to WWD, Madden would get "the borrower’s personal property, accounts, deposit accounts and cash, equipment, fixtures, general intangibles, goods [and] inventory". Yep —that list means he would literally get everything and the kitchen sink. Granted, that's a lot of poofy prom dresses and overwhelmingly effeminate home goods for one man to own, but the company has been expanding as of late, acquiring handbag company Big Buddha, investing in Bakers footwear and pairing with Macy's Material Girl line.

Worst case scenario, the Betsey Johnson brand lives on, and there's an unbelievable eBay auction for their old personal items. We're calling dibs on the monogrammed "Ms. Bacon" letterhead, and will seriously outbid you for it.
· Betsey Johnson Defaults, Steven Madden Steps In [WWD]