The First French Supermodel (And The Most Photographed Woman In France)
365 days of fashion: the e-ncyclopedia of fashion
Saturday, May 10, 2025
On 365 Days of Fashion, we like to discuss not only famous designers but also other professionals: editors, photographers, and models.
Have you ever been curious about who were the modeling queens in the past, the ‘original’ Naomi Campbells and Kate Mosses of the time?
Bettina Graziani (8 May 1925 - 2 March 2015), professionally known by the single name Bettina, was one of them. She was the first great personality model to emerge in the postwar Parisian fashion scene. Today, we would like to share her story.
Born Simone Micheline Bodin in 1925, her passion for fashion sparked at an early age. Initially serious about a career in fashion design, she brought her sketches to an appointment with the young designer Jacques Costet, where she accidentally became a model instead!
Bettina then went on to work with Jacques Fath, who christened her “Bettina”