Bettina: The First French Supermodel

Born Simone Micheline Bodin, Bettina was given her moniker by couturier Jacques Fath in the early 1950s. “We already have a Simone,” he told her, “You look to me like a Bettina.”

Bettina was the first French supermodel, playing muse to Fath, as well as a young Hubert de Givenchy, who named his first collection, led by the iconic full-ruffle Bettina blouse, after the redheaded model. She would later inspire Givenchy’s bestselling fragrance, Amarige. She gave wit and charm to the decade’s dramatic boat necklines, statement round buttons and elaborate fascinator hats. It was a moment of French liberation and joie de vivre, and Bettina encapsulated all of that.

A former ballet dancer — she made her first pair of ballet shoes by stuffing the toes of a pair of espadrilles — Bettina had an instinctive sense of pose that would go on to define the decade. “My round country-girl’s cheeks and healthy appearance made me look quite unlike all the other mannequins,” she said, "I owe my success more to an expressive face, than to my good looks." Standing at only 5"5 tall, Fath designed dresses specifically for Bettina's proportions, transforming her “from a long-legged redhead with freckles to a supremely elegant, streamlined girl.” Her boyish, "Greek Shepherd" haircut inspired a generation, while Irving Penn taught her to use black lipstick to contour and contrast her face.

"I owe my success more to an expressive face, than to my good looks" — Bettina

Bettina was also a regular fixture at Fath's glamorous countryside balls at Château de Corbeville, attended by the crème of Parisian society. Romantically, she has been linked to Italian photojournalist Benno Graziani, screenwriter Peter Viertel and Prince Aly Khan, who became the love of her life.

However, for all that Bettina's life has been glamorous, she has endured her own personal hardship. As a child, her father left when she was six months old. Later, during the war, she moved to live with her grandmother in Angers, who was then killed during a bombing raid. In 1960, when pregnant, she and her fiancé Prince Aly Khan were involved in a car crash in which the prince was killed; the shock of which would later result in a miscarriage. It has perhaps been these events that have given Bettina her fearless character, which resonates in each iconic black and white photograph.

Her legacy is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Galerie Azzédine Alaïa, with photographs from Irving Penn, Dick Dormer, Norman Parkinson and Erwin Blumenfeld. Bettina has worked closely with Alaïa for many years after retiring from modeling in 1955. In 2010, she was awarded France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Frédéric Mitterrand delivered the award with the line, "You are, in a word, the embodiment of the modern woman."

Bettina is at the Galerie Azzédine Alaïa, Paris until January 11.

Words by Mhairi Graham