Betty Catroux (born Betty Saint) is a former Chanel model[1] and fashion icon who has been cited as a muse by both Yves Saint Laurent and Tom Ford. Saint Laurent has called her his twin sister[2] and referred to her as his female incarnation.[3] Tom Ford was so inspired by her that he dedicated his debut YSL Rive Gauche collection to her.[2]
Catroux is famed for her long white-blond hair, lanky body, gaunt features, and androgynous appearance.[4] Catroux and Saint Laurent met, according to her, in a "very, very gay" nightclub in Paris, Regine's in the 1960s and have had a friendly relationship ever since.
She is the only child of Carmen Saint, a Brazil-born French socialite,[5][6] and Elim O'Shaughnessy, an American diplomat.
In 1968, Betty Saint married French interior decorator François Catroux, a grandson of General Georges Catroux. The couple has two daughters: Maxime, a book editor at Flammarion,[7] and Daphné, who is married to Count Charles-Antoine Morand.[8]