“I think, in retrospect, I had a different style. Because I can’t say I was the most beautiful. It’s not a question of beauty. You have to have a personality.”
She was described as “the most photographed woman in France” by Paris Match magazine in the early Fifties. She was personally re-named "Bettina" by Jacques Fath. Givenchy called her “the very first muse of the house and an icon of elegance and of Parisian refinement".
RIP Bettina Graziani (born Simone Micheline Bodin, 8th May 1925 – 2nd March 2015) - one of the greatest models of the 1950s (and indeed the 20th century), whose elegance and style made possible the world of fashion photography as we know it today.
The world is a little more fabulous because of her!
ReplyDelete"Returned to Fabulon", indeed. Jx
DeleteShe brought the sashay to a whole new level.
ReplyDeleteThank heavens! Jx
DeleteBettina was like the Kate Moss of her time. She was shorter than other models, she had little flaws, freckles and difficult hair but she had that unexplainable something that the camera loved. She really was so ahead of her time...she turned down working for Christian Dior saying the man was quite boring and his clothes rather tedious. Well looking at Dior now we can confirm how really ahead of her time she.was.
ReplyDeleteShe was born to wear Givenchy... And where would his label be without her? Jx
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