Simone Micheline Bodin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simone Micheline Bodin Graziani (1925—) known professionally as Bettina, was a leading French fashion model of the 1950s and an early muse to the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. She also has been a designer of knitwear and, later, a poet and composer.

Born in Laval, France, she was given the name Bettina by the designer Pierre Balmain. She was associated with Balmain, Lucien Lelong, Jacques Fath, and Christian Dior, but most importantly with Givenchy, for whom she worked as a model and press agent. Hubert de Givenchy named his first collection, which debuted in 1952, after her and one of its designs, the Bryonesque "Bettina" blouse, became a fashion icon in the early 1950s.

The bottle for the best-selling Givenchy parfum "Amarige" also has the ruffled bottle which was inspired by the "Bettina blouse" and the scent is inspired by Bettina's femininity.

After a short marriage to a man surnamed Graziani, she became the companion of Peter Viertel, the American screenwriter, and the fiancée of Prince Aly Khan, a playboy who briefly was the United Nations ambassador from Pakistan.

She retired from modeling in 1955, after meeting Aly Khan. In 1960, Bettina, then pregnant with their child, survived the car accident that took the life of the prince; the shock of the accident would later result in a miscarriage.

After Aly Khan's death, Bettina wrote her memoirs, which were published in 1965.