In 1988, I got invited to a party thrown by the model agency that represented Linda Spierings, a well-known model who is friends  with Azzedine Alaïa. I still had my own boutique for which I’d designed a collection enriched with embroidery of Arabic writing that season. To be sure nothing offending would appear in embroidery on the clothes, I’d copied words of a Marlboro advertisement (these were the days before internet…..).

The collection was a success and the night of the party I was wearing one of the embroidered jackets. Azzedine was dancing with Linda, when we bumped into each other at the dance floor. He looked at my jacket and got a huge smile on his face…. I didn’t dare to ask him what I had embroidered on the jacket, but because of his smile, I knew it was ok.

Azzedine & Linda Spierings

Embroidered jacket, 1988. Ph. Carel Fonteyne

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He dares to speak his mind

Azzedine Alaïa has earned an unusual degree of autonomy within the fashion industry. He shows when he wants and when he is ready — not when there’s a fashion week on the schedule. He does the same with his seasonal deliveries. He doesn’t advertise, and doesn’t seem to care one way or the other about editorial mentions, either. For this congenial contrarianism, Alaïa has earned the admiration of many an influential fashion critic.

 So here’s his unvarnished take on Anna Wintour: “She runs the business (Vogue US) very well, but not the fashion part. When I see how she is dressed, I don’t believe in her tastes one second. I can say it loudly! She hasn’t photographed my work in years even if I am a best seller in the U.S. and I have 140 square meters at Barneys. American women love me; I don’t need her support at all. Anna Wintour doesn’t deal with pictures; she is just doing PR and business, and she scares everybody. But when she sees me, she is the scared one. [Laughs.] Other people think like me, but don’t say it because they are afraid that Vogue won’t photograph them. Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one. Take Diana Vreeland, she is remembered because she was so chic. What she did with the magazine was great.”

Anna Wintour & Karl Lagerfeld

In 2009, Wintour presided over an exhibition at the Met that celebrated “The Model As Muse,” and Alaïa, who is well-known for his enduring friendships with (particularly) the 90s supermodels, was excluded. (Naomi Campbell refused to attend the Met Ball in protest.) At the time, Alaïa said of Wintour, “she behaves like a dictator and everyone is terrified of her…but I’m not scared of her or anyone.”

 Alaïa also isn’t such a big fan of Karl Lagerfeld. In the same new interview, he says: “I don’t like his fashion, his spirit, his attitude. It’s too much caricature. Karl Lagerfeld never touched a pair of scissors in his life. That doesn’t mean that he’s not great, but he’s part of another system. He has capacity. One day he does photography, the next he does advertisements for Coca-Cola. I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement. We don’t do the same work.”

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Short biography

Born June 7, 1939  in Tunisia, Azzedine Alaïa’s family were wheat farmers. His glamorous twin sister inspired in him an early love for couture and it was whilst assisting the famous midwife Madame Pinot, a close friend of the family, that Alaïa learnt about fashion. Madame Pinot enrolled him at the École des Beaux-Arts to study sculpture where he discovered what was to be his lifelong inspiration, the beauty and symmetry of the human form.

In 1957 the young Alaïa moved to France and began work at Dior as a tailleur but due to ill feeling centered on the Algerian war his tenure was limited to 5 days. He soon met Madame Simone Zehrfuss and Louise de Vilmorin who introduced him to the cream of Parisian society and were pivotal in him gaining his illustrious list of private clients. Alaïa worked under the patronage of the Comtesse de Blégiers, producing gowns exclusively for her for 5 years. He then moved to Guy Laroche to learn tailoring and after this he worked alongside his friend Thierry Mugler.

Azzedine & Naomi Campbell

In the late 1970s Alaïa settled in his famously small apartment on the Rue de Bellechasse. From here he ran his tiny atelier as a secret word of mouth concern, dressing the world’s jet set from Marie-Hélène de Rothschild to Greta Garbo, who used to come incognito for her fittings.

He produced his first ready-to-wear collection in 1980 and moved to larger premises on rue du Parc-Royal in the Marais district. When interior designer Andrée Putman was walking down Madison Avenue with one of the first Alaïa leather coats, she was stopped by a Bergdorf Goodman buyer who asked her what she was wearing, which began a turn of events that lead to his designs being sold in New York and in Beverly Hills.

In the 1980s when most of the fashion world was embracing sharp shouldered power dressing and baggy androgyny Alaïa introduced the world to the ‘body’ and to his own skin-tight mini skirts and dresses. Truly a showcase for the perfect human form, his ‘bodycon’ look sat alongside the more masculine power suits of the decade. Alaïa was voted Best Designer of the Year and Best collection of the Year at the Oscars de la Mode by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984 in a memorable event where Jamaican singer Grace Jones carried him in her arms on stage.

Grace Jones

Azzedine & Grace Jones

As Suzy Menkes said in 1991 “If there were any justice in this (fashion) world, Azzedine Alaïa would be a worldwide household name, instead of a cult hero. It is 10 years since the small, shy, Tunisian-born designer launched the body-conscious stretch looks that have defined the way an entire generation dresses and become the fashion revolution of the last decade”.

During the mid 1990s, following the death of his sister, Alaïa virtually disappeared from the fashion scene but continued to cater for private clients and his RTW collections enjoyed continuing commercial success. He presented his collections in the heart of the Marais where he had brought together his workshop, showroom and Azzedine Alaïa shop. His return to the limelight in 2000 saw a departure from his super sexy 80s heyday and his new look was described as “much more sober, almost Amish in comparison”.

Catherine Lardeur, the former editor and chief of French Marie Claire in the 1980s, who also helped to launch Jean-Paul Gaultier’s career, stated in an interview to Crowd Magazine that ” Fashion is dead. Designers nowadays do not create anything, they only make clothes so people and the press would talk about them. The real money for designers lie within perfumes and handbags. It is all about image. Alaïa remains the king. He is smart enough to not only care about having people talk about him. He only holds fashion shows when he has something to show, on his own time frame. Even when Prada owned him (2000-2007), he remained free and did what he wanted to do.”

Azzedine Alaïa & Tina Turner 

Alaïa’s lack of interest in self promotion is legendary. He never learnt English and even at the height of his fame he was known to show his collection up to three weeks late, long after the international fashion pack had moved on from Paris. Without a thought for producing show stopping outfits or the next ‘it’ bag he is revered for his independence and discreet luxury.

A tireless craftsman Alaïa is famous for his extensive research into new materials and new ways of cutting and shaping them. He cuts many patterns himself and often finishes garments by hand. Alaïa drapes directly onto the body, ensuring the perfect fit. It has been said that once a girl has worn an Alaïa anything else seemed simply ‘too big’. There is always a fit model present in his atelier, available 24 hours a day, a role once filled by a young Naomi Campbell.

Owing much to Madame Vionnet, the great tailleur of the 1920s famed for her introduction of bias cut dresses, Alaïa uses the same lingerie inspired sewing techniques along with seaming and stitching usually reserved for corsetry. Combined with malleable elastic fabrics this allows for maximum body control and sex appeal in his clothes. He avoids vulgarity by utilizing a range of muted colours and expert tailoring, lace is backed with skin coloured fabric to give the illusion of exposure. Alaïa’s garments are created using old tailoring techniques yet he has always taken full advantage of developments in fabric construction embracing modern fabrics such as lycra, jersey and viscose.

Azzedine Alaïa was named Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by the French government in 2008.

Azzedine working on his famous crocodile dress

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In 2011 Alaïa was asked to become the head of Dior after John Galliano’s departure. He expressed himself to be flattered but not interested in the role.

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Exhibition autumn 2013

Photos by Peter Lindbergh featuring Lindsey Wixson, 2013

Palais Galliera, Museum of Fashion in Paris, Autumn 2013

Designed for the reopening of the Galliera Museum, the exhibition provides the first retrospective in Paris dedicated to couturier Azzedine Alaïa.  After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis, Alaïa arrived in Paris during the 1950s and quickly became a noble artisan himself, perfecting Parisian elegance. He mastered his craft by remaining close to his clients, whom he seduced with custom-made garments in the great tradition of Chic. In the 60s and 70s, he developed wardrobes for famous personalities such as Louise de Vilmorin, Arletty and Greta Garbo.

He followed a creative method that allowed him to free himself from dictates and rules, confirming his talent as a visionary. He was recognised by the media in the 1980s as his work stood out as particularly noteworthy during that decade. A true plastic surgeon who only used his scissors on chiffon and leather, Alaïa sculpted a new body. By inventing novel morphologies for clothes through the simple play of seams, Alaïa became the couturier of a timeless body of work. His influence on contemporary fashion and all generations of creators and couturiers is fundamental.

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Books

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 A beautiful catalogue of the Groninger Museum, Azzedine Alaïa Exhibition 2012

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http://webshop.groningermuseum.nl/p/13/azzedine-ala%C3%AFa-groninger-museum-webshop-catalogus

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II

Very rare hardcover ‘Alaia’ book featuring breathtaking images taken by Azzedine Alaia published by Steidl dating to November of 1998. Limited edition. 240 pages.

http://www.amazon.ca/Ala%C3%AFa-Azzedine/dp/3882435364

http://www.1stdibs.com/fashion/books/fashion-books/alaia-azzedine-alaia-steidl-nov-1998-limited-edition/id-v_91791/

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III

http://www.amazon.com/Alaia-Universe-Fashion-Francois-Baudot/dp/0789300893

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Info for this post: WWD, A Magazine, Wikipedia

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Twiggy & Justin de Villeneuve

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For a while now I’ve been curious about ‘what happened to Justin de Villeneuve, after he and Twiggy split up as a couple and professionally’, so it was time to find out more about him. And I’m happy I did, because it’s the story of a chameleon and a one of a kind, who reinvented himself more often than Madonna did……, being a boxer, a colourful villain, a hairdresser, interior decorator, manager, photographer and poet, but best known for launching Twiggy’s modeling career and making her a superstar.

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Short Biography

Born Nigel Jonathan Davies in East End London, 1939. But Nigel didn’t seem a great name for a boy with ambitions, so he starts calling himself Nagels. Everyone, he says, with their fingers in dodgy pies, knew Nagels. He was one of the most persuasive mouths around, learning his craft by encouraging punters into strip clubs in Soho. From there he turned a few folding ones as the plant in the audience who volunteers to fight the boxer in the fairground ring and soon he was buying and selling this and that. Once he got his hands on a job lot of wine.

“It was an insurance job, Jewish lightning struck the warehouse,” he remembers. “The wine tasted like paint-stripper, but I just stuck fancy labels on it, and sold the lot to Vidal Sassoon for his wedding. He invited me along, I was very nervous, positioned myself by the door to do a runner. But they were such gullibles, his guests, they got conned by the labels, everyone loved it. Vidal was so impressed, he made me his assistant.”

It was then, as number two to the fanciest snipper in town, that the young fast-lip decided that a false name was required to complete the con. This time he renamed himself Christian St Forget. But not for long. “I’d heard the name Justin and I liked it. Then someone said I should choose a French second name, but I didn’t know any. So they said, ‘Well just take the name of a town.’ So I said, ‘What, like Harlow New Town?’ And that was it: Villeneuve.” And so, suitably titled, the young hairdresser soon found himself blagging his way into the affections of all sorts of handsome women who came in to have their hair done. One was a skinny 15-year-old called Lesley Hornby.

She attracts the attentions of de Villeneuve, ten years her senior, while working as a Saturday girl in the local hairdressing salon. “I started going out with Lesley in 1965”. She wanted to become a model and Justin changes her name to Twiggy. Together they arranged meetings with fashion editors, but they all said she looked too young. He sets about promoting her look with great success. Eventually she got her break, within six months of meeting, Twiggy was on the front cover of every magazine. She is declared ‘the face of 1966’ by the Daily Express. Twiggy is photographed by Vogue, flown to New York, and becomes a recognisable fashion icon throughout the world.

“A lot of tap dancing went on,” he says. “I didn’t know what I was doing, I had a lot of front, but I had a lot of taste as well. I’d only let her do the good stuff. We exploded, we were like the biggest names. It was Mick and Keith, John and Paul, and Justin and Twigs. At one point I got through 23 cars in 12 months, Ferraris the lot. I had a domestic staff, five of them: cook, butler, chauffeur. Ridiculous, but I don’t regret a minute of it.”

It occurred in the early Seventies, when the pair had been an item for eight years, during preparation for the follow-up to the film The Boy Friend (“You remember, lovely film, really made Twigs”). De Villeneuve blames it all on a contractual problem. A script had been arranged, a producer engaged, Fred Astaire was going to star alongside Twiggy and a semi-famous actor was lined up to play the love interest. But then the snag struck: the money couldn’t be agreed on, and he dropped out. So an actor called Michael Whitney was recruited in his place. And, whoops.

“Halfway through the filming she rings and tells me she’s in love with Michael Whitney and I’ve got the old elbow. Devastated I was,” De Villeneuve remembers. “But the thing was, it need never have happened. Michael Whitney never needed to be there. It was contractual problems, you see, with the first geezer. Contractual problems which I could’ve sorted, but the agents wouldn’t let me. If only I’d been allowed to sit down with the bloke, then, well: crash, bang, wallop, two kippers and a bon-bon, how’s your father, done and dusted.” A colourful way of recalling his life has Justin de Villeneuve.

De Villeneuve takes fifty percent of her earnings as a model, and from the dress line set up in her name and the franchises for dolls and accessories. During the early relationship, Twiggy is naïve in business whilst de Villeneuve becomes increasingly extravagant – he takes delivery of a new Italian car every six weeks; Tommy Nutter suits are ordered ten at a time.

As Twiggy starts to become more aware of her earnings, De Villeneuve has difficulty demonstrating his relevance to their existing business relationship. He antagonizes professional photographers by taking up photography and then demanding grandiose fees; he generates a similar response in the film world and is deemed incapable of standing back and accepting his role should simply be that of an effective agent.

Iconic photographs of Twiggy in Biba by Justin de Villeneuve

Twiggy in Dudu make-up advertisement for Biba by Justin de Villeneuve

“By 1973, we were no longer a couple, but I remained her manager. David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane had just come out, and we loved the line: ‘Twig the wonder kid.’ We met Bowie a few times socially, and he mentioned that he wanted to be the first man on the cover of Vogue. I called them to suggest this, with Twiggy, of course, and after a bit of a hoo-ha, they agreed. T

o be honest, I wasn’t a professional photographer. I had watched Bert Stern, a hero of mine, do a cover with Twigs. I was fascinated by the set up: he would disappear into an office while the assistants set everything up. Then, when it was ready, he would return, utter those immortal words, “Strike a pose”, click the picture and go. I thought: “Justin, you can do that.” That’s the moment I became a photographer. 

Twiggy for Vogue by Justin de Villeneuve


Twiggy, 1971. Picture by Justin de Villeneuve
Twiggy for Italian Vogue by Justin de Villeneuve

Bowie was working on Pin Ups in Paris, so we flew there to do the shoot. When Twigs and Bowie were together and lit up, I looked through the viewfinder and realised that David was pure white, whereas Twiggy was tanned from a holiday in Bermuda. There was a moment of panic because I knew it would look bizarre; but the makeup artist suggested drawing masks on them, and this worked out even better. 

I remember distinctly that I’d got it with the first shot. It was too good to be true. When I showed Bowie the test Polaroids, he asked if he could use it for the Pin Ups record sleeve. I said: “I don’t think so, since this is for Vogue. How many albums do you think you will sell?” “A million,” he replied. “This is your next album cover!” I said. When I got back to London and told Vogue, they never spoke to me again. Several weeks later, Twigs and I were driving along Sunset Boulevard and we passed a 60ft billboard of the picture. I knew I had made the right decision.”

Photo of twiggy & David Bowie, commissioned by Vogue, but ends up as album cover for 'Pin Ups'

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In 1973, Twiggy severs her ties with de Villeneuve. And with that out went his main source of income. For a few years, De Villeneuve traded on the old name, doing a bit of interior decorating here (“Some poor sap in the City gave me a grand for doing out their restaurant; I hadn’t a clue”), a bit of pop management there (two of his clients were Tim Hardin and – we all make mistakes – Clifford T Ward). But it was not enough to sustain the domestics. 

“I was used to picking up the phone and making it work,” he says. “All of a sudden you’ve got receptionists saying, ‘How do you spell that name?’ “

Then, in the middle of a very barren run in the Eighties, came a crushing revelation. “I realised that I was only any good at that sort of thing when I was with Twigs,” he says. “It became an enormous handicap, my name. You could feel people assuming everything I did must be a load of old bollocks. People seemed to take enormous pleasure in my fall.”  Moreover, by then, Twiggy wasn’t around to help him make a few quid. All this self-assessment, though, had a positive outcome. De Villeneuve decided to write about the good times in book form (An Affectionate Punch, published in 1986).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/An-Affectionate-Punch-Justin-Villeneuve/dp/0283993464

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1975 Justin weds American Model Jan Ward. Together they have to baby girls, who now have made a name for themselves in fashion styling, Poppy de Villeneuve and illustration, Daisy de Villeneuve. 

Jan (Ward) & Justin de Villeneuve

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Another marvelous scheme

Justin worked as a studio producer for a while, after his split from Twiggy. You can find an entertaining story about this when you click on the next link!!!

http://www.studiowner.com/essays/essay.asp?books=0&pagnum=123

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2007 Justin married Sue Timney, president of the British Institute of Interior Design, at Chelsea Town Hall, they live in Kent 

Justin de Villeneuve & Sue Timney

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Now retired, Justin’s influence on Twiggy’s career was again highlighted when Bonhams auctioned the iconic photograph by Barry Lategan from her first modelling shoot in 1966. It had been arranged by de Villeneuve. The picture, which fetched £5,600, propelled Twiggy to international stardom.

Exhibition in 2011

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FACES OF THE SIXTIES: Justin de Villeneuve With a portfolio full of celebrated fashion shots and iconic portrait sittings with a number superstars of his era and glossy magazine publications, the new exhibition in Proud Chelsea is a marvellous look back at a prolific career. Featuring Twiggy, Pattie Boyd, Marsha Hunt and David Bowie, this exhibition showcases an exclusive collection of de Villeneuve’s rare and unseen photographs. Not only his famous sitters, but de Villeneuve himself is one of the most intriguing characters in British fashion history.

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A beauty shot of Twiggy for Biba’s new range of cosmetics, 1970

American singer and novelist Marsha Hunt at the time of her appearance in the stage musical ‘Hair’, 1968

Twiggy wearing a fur-trimmed dress knitted by herself, over a white blouse, 1972

Twiggy & Patti Boyd for Italian Vogue, 1970

Twiggy & Patti Boyd for Italian Vogue, 1970

Twiggy wearing a peasant-style dress in a promotional shot for Ken Russell’s ‘The Boy Friend’

Twiggy wearing an Ossie Clark fox fur coat from 1970

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Book

http://www.amazon.com/Twiggy-Justin-Thomas-Whiteside/dp/B0006BUYPO

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Justin de Villleneuve, 2006
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Information for this post:  Interview by Jim White, 1995

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/no-more-mr-twiggy-1603492.html

I was a success in my job as a cover girl,” she writes, “and I owe that success more to an expressive face than to my good looks.”

Bettina

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Biography

Simone Micheline Bodin (born in France, 1925), known professionally as Bettina or Bettina Graziani, was a French fashion model of the 1940s and 1950. Simone spends her childhood in Lavel, France. Her first job is tinting drawings for an architect, while she’s  dreaming of becoming a fashion designer. She moves to Paris and presents her drawings to couturier Jacques Costet at his atelier at 4 Rue de la Paix. Costet isn’t interested in her drawings, but takes Simone on as a model. “My round country-girl’s cheeks and healthy appearance made me look quite unlike all the other mannequins,” she will later write.

Simone meets Gilbert “Beno” Graziani, a genial man-about-town (who will later become a well-known Paris Match photographer). Together they move to the Cote d’Azur to run a bar in Juan-les-Pins to make ends meet. Back in Paris, Simone marries Graziani in a borrowed Jacques Fath dress.

In 1947 Jacques Fath hires Simone to model for him and transforms her “from a long-legged redhead with freckles to a supremely elegant, streamlined girl”. He renames her Bettina (because there is another model named Simone in his troupe) and she is photographed in Fath finery by Erwin Blumenfeld for Vogue. A year later Bettina makes her runway debut for Jacques Fath for spring.

Photograph by Irving Penn.Published in Vogue, September 1, 1950.

Jacques Fath directs her to shed her chignon in favor of a boyish “Greek shepherd” cut in 1949, which will spark a revolution in women’s hairstyles.. The same year Bettina makes her first trip to America, to work with Vogue’s Irving Penn. She gets offered a contract by 20th Century Fox, which she turns down. She is also invited by Christian Dior to join his fashion house, but  chooses instead to work for Jacques Fath.

Bettina divorces from Beno Graziani in 1950 and later befriends Peter Viertel, screenwriter of The African Queen.

After Jacques Fath’s tragic early death, Bettina goes to work for “handsome giant” Hubert de Givenchy, as a muse and press agent in 1952. Bettina organizes and models Givenchy’s first collection, which includes an embroidered and frilled, Byronesque “Bettina” blouse, which becomes a fashion icon in the early 1950s and inspired the bottle for the best-selling Givenchy parfum “Amarige.”. In his early seasons, Givenchy channels Bettina’s personal style, sending her out barefoot in cotton separates, revolutionizing the couture at that time. Together they travel to New York for the “April in Paris” benefit at the Waldorf-Astoria. Designer and muse do a television interview with newsman Edward R. Murrow.

Bettina in parfume ad for Canasta by Jaques Fath

Bettina blouse by Givenchy

The Alliance with Givenchy ends after two years and Bettina is now a freelance model. She  moves for a time to Hollywood with her boyfriend. Peter Viertel.  Approached by a Hungarian manufacturer, Monsieur Hein, to create a line of sweaters called Bettina.

In 1955 Bettina meets Prince Aly Khan, a playboy who briefly was the United Nations ambassador from Pakistan. She gives up modeling to be his constant companion. This, she’ll later write, requires a change of style. “When I looked in the mirror I sometimes found it hard to recognize myself. Where was Bettina, the leading mannequin, ever in the forefront of fashion? The Bettina I saw had hair as long as Mélisande’s, and extremely decorous dresses that were sometimes even longer than fashion dictated. But I accepted what I saw in the mirror with perfectly good grace, since I knew that this was how Aly liked me to look.”

Bettina & Prince Aly Khan

“No. 1 topic among the marriage-makers of the International Smart Set these days is the romance of Prince Aly Khan, ex-husband of Rita Hayworth, and the beauteous ‘Bettina,’ . . . ex–cover girl.” Bettina receives two dozen roses from the prince daily, the press reports

In 1960 disaster strikes when Aly Khan is killed in a car accident, which Bettina survives, though she’ll suffer a miscarriage. She inherits Khan’s Chantilly château, Green Lodge (which she’ll later sell to Khan’s son, Karim).

In 1967 Bettina, “the green-eyed railway worker’s daughter” goes back to modeling at the age of 42. And all because she’s bored. Bettina works for Coco Chanel, but she has a problem, for as the couturier says of her, “She needs to lose a little weight. I have told her to follow my example and don’t eat at weekends.”  After presenting Chanel’s collection in July, Bettina says, “It was fun to do it once. I never will again.”

Coco Chanel & Bettina

Bettina becomes director of haute couture at Emanuel Ungaro in 1976. “I needed to go to work for the money,” she later says.

In 2010 Frédéric Mitterrand presents Bettina with France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres award, saying, “You are, in a word, the embodiment of the modern woman.”

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Portrets

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Interview Magazine

Interview by Colleen Nika,   publised: 18 December, 2008  

During the postwar creative boom of early 50s France, three fashion designers revolutionized couture: Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, and Jacques Fath. Supermodel Simone Micheline Bodin Graziani, pet named “Bettina”, rubbed shoulders with all of them, and played muse to the youngest of them, Jacques Fath. With her red hair and fresh face, Bettina personified the innovation, wit, and accessibility of Fath’s brand. Fath died in 1954, but his bold silhouettes, dramatic necklines, and unorthodox flourishes—”flying saucer buttons,” popularized by Hollywood starlets and Bettina’s editorials—continue to influence designers like Viktor & Rolf, John Galliano, and Giambattista Valli. Bettina famously lent her name to an iconic blouse by Hubert de Givenchy, from his first collection, but she considers her formative Fath years the highlight of her career. .  

Jacques Fath in studio with Bettina. Photo Louis Dahl-Wolfe

Colleen Nika: History has come to associate you with Givenchy, but before your worked with him, you were a muse to Jacques Fath. How did he jumpstart your career?

Bettina: I started working with Fath when I was very young, back in 1947. I had modeled before then, but on a much smaller scale. And I worked with Fath longer than any other designer in my career—four years. From the draping process through our presentations and campaigns, he used me for all of his new collections. He liked that I was “different”: I was very young, very genuine. I wore no makeup and I had red hair. At the time, Fath was interested in conveying an American spirit and a brand new attitude. He wanted to communicate a modern image to the media; it was very important to him. So, I became the face of Fath. 

CN: What do you consider most memorable during your years as Fath’s muse?

B: Fath would throw costume balls in the countryside, at the Château de Corbeville. All the best buyers, stars, writers, even other designers like Balenciaga and Balmain would come. Sometimes we would throw 20s– and 30s–themed partiesm, or cowboy-themed parties. Imagination was everything. And we had a great time at Fath’s studio, especially during draping sessions. Givenchy, who worked there when he was very young, says it was a beautiful experience and that he learned so much during that time. Guy Laroche got his start there, too. This was just after the French liberation; we all lived for the creative moment.

Bettina in Jacques Fath, 1950

Bettina in Givenchy winter dress, 1955

CN: After your Fath years, what path did your modeling career take?

B: I worked for Givenchy for two years. I also did a lot of magazine work. I was everywhere: in Vogue, of course, but also in Elle, which was a very new magazine at that time. In those days, the models would have their name credited in the magazines, so I had a lot of publicity. I stopped modeling in the late 50s, but later, I did some work for Valentino and I was a US press agent for Emanuel Ungaro.

CN: What are your thoughts on the contemporary modeling profession?

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B: The models are different now—they are so young, and they all look the same. Of course, I was young when I started, too, but there was so much less competition, less big names. But then, the entire business was different. The presentations were much smaller; collections were shown to select clients in salons, like a trunk show. You could reach out and touch the clothes. It was approachable. Back then, there was no ready-to-wear, only couture. Of course, because the runway events are so costly now, the industry is returning to smaller presentations. But the model’s role has definitely changed.

CN: Speaking of the present, how are you keeping busy these days? Are you still actively involved in fashion? What designers interest you?

B: Well, I travel a lot; I recently was in Malta and the Riviera. But I live in Paris, so I am still very engaged with fashion. I go the shows every season. My favorite designers? Azzedine Alaia and Yohji Yamomoto. But especially Alaia; he is the ultimate innovator. Actually, I am wearing couture Alaia now—he made this for me two years ago. [stands up to show sculptural black sheath]. And I still am very busy; I have many projects. People call me all time—they want to interview me: they ask me about the Parisian fashion scene of the 50s; they want my pictures and commentary. And I love talking about fashion history, so I am happy to do it.

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