Bettina GRAZIANI for House of Jacques Fath

Studio portrait of Bettina GRAZIANI for the House of Jacques FATH. Bettina is posed calmly with her face directed toward the camera, her expression serene and her lips slightly parted. She wears a long coat decorated with a checked houndstooth pattern, featuring a contrasting two-tone collar of classic lapel form with black elements near the neckline. The coat is adorned with a row of three large black round buttons. The ensemble is completed with a black turtleneck visible beneath the coat, black gloves, and a pair of classic black heeled shoes. On her head, the model wears a small rounded pillbox hat fitted with a delicate netted veil in front. She finishes the composition with pearl earrings, reinforcing the refined elegance of the fashion portrait.

Bettina GRAZIANI (French, Laval, Mayenne 1925 - 2015 Paris)  born Simone Micheline BODIN  was a French mannequin, considered one of the most celebrated models of the 1950s and described by Paris Match as the most photographed Frenchwoman in France. Raised in Normandy by her mother, a schoolteacher, she arrived in Paris at the Liberation intending to become a fashion illustrator, but was hired as a model on the spot by the couturier Jacques COSTET. After a brief marriage to the journalist and photographer Gilbert "Benno" GRAZIANI, whose surname she retained, she joined the house of Jacques FATH in 1947, the year of DIOR's New Look, where she became the couturier's muse for four years. She subsequently became the house model of Hubert de GIVENCHY at the opening of his maison in 1952, and was closely associated with his early career. Later she became known for her relationship with Prince Ali KHAN. She remained an iconic figure of Parisian elegance throughout her life.