A Tale of Two Bettinas

Initially when starting this post I thought that there was only one Bettina, and was becoming frustrated as I was not getting the information that I was hoping for. I was only aware that Bettina was a top model in Paris in the 1950’s and one of the muses of Jacques Fath. I was a little puzzled when I cam across this quote from Bettina Ballard who dismissed Fath as "a good-looking child prodigy…with slightly theatrical fashion ideas not worthy of the hallowed pages of Vogue or Harper's Bazaar.” I thought “how can this be”. Here is a model who largely owes her fame to Fath and she said that about him! As I delved further I discovered there were two Bettina’s. Bettina Ballard and Bettina Graziani.

BallardBettina Ballard was the American editor of Vogue and really the Anna Wintour of her day. Her lasting legacy was her book “In My Fashion” being her memoirs of life in the fashion world. After working for the fashion bible in New York, Bettina became a Voguette in Paris during the years between the wars before returning to New York. The glamorous tale includes anecdotes about a cast of characters including Chanel, Schiaparelli, Christian Berard, Babe Paley. And sorry people that was about it. Not having read the book I really cannot find much else about her.

However there are lots of photos as there should be. From what I see, she was no great beauty, however she had presence. Extremely elegant she always seems dressed to perfection. She looks to be a force to reckoned with and I don’t think I would like to get on her bad side.




She was definitely ahead her game after viewing Christian Dior’s New Look collection in 1947, when she was quoted as saying ‘I was conscious of an electric tension I had never before felt in couture...We were witnesses to a revolution in fashion’.

Graziani
Born in Laval, France, she was given the name Bettina by the designer Pierre Balmain. She was a favourite of 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; one of its designs, the Byronesque "Bettina" blouse, became a fashion icon in the early 1950s.




She was then married shortly to Gilbert "Benno" Graziani, a French photographer and reporter. Later she was the fiancée of Prince Aly Khan, 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 memoir, Bettina par Bettina .

Still active today, she is regularly seen at all the shows in Paris and friends with all.

As to Bettina Ballard, I have no idea!

I am sure that the two would have crossed paths in the course of their respective careers, and I wonder what they thought of each other?

Suited Sunday with Savoir Faire

Gentleman, lets start off the work week with some suited Savoir Faire from hardy Amies! It does not get much better than this!

The Best Laid Plans!

So here I was this morning all geared up for the Lanvin launch at H&M. I had carefully considered what I was going to purchase and even estimating the sizes that I would require. Now of course savoir faire is not normally known for running and grabbing in a mad frenzy amongst other crazed shoppers, however I thought this was something that I should not miss.

After continuously checking the website and opening times of my local location I thought I was good to go. Woke up early (not too early), forsook my usual Saturday morning 7.00am start at the gym,, was even at the local market super early (they nearly fell over themselves),All these measures I thought would give me at least, 2 hours waiting in line before the 10:00 am opening.

By local H&M and the main store in Toronto is only 5 minutes walk away, so walked briskly over and low and behold, no line up outside the store! Wow I thought this is wonderful, only to get to the door, look in and see all inside! They opened at 8:00am instead of the 10:00 am opening indicated on the website.

Composed I walked through the frenzy of women with dresses stuffed into bags ( no respect here, I mean they were just stuffing $300 dresses into bags.) Down to the menswear and shock horror, nearly all gone! All was not lost, I did get 2 cardigans and the cutest little windcheater, however no bow tie which I was really wanting! They were all gone!

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

Some Weekend Savoir Faire

Now that it is absolutely frigid here in Toronto this morning, my thoughts are wandering to sun, water and savoir faire!

So enjoy the weekend all!

The Captain in Paris

If one wanted to be impeccably dressed in Paris in the 1930’s there was no other couturier to patronise other than the Captain. Captain Edward Molyneux an Irishman of Huguenot ancestry was the last word in chic in Paris during the 1930’s. More conservative than Schiaparelli and in a different class entirely from Chanel, he was the one whom fashionable women turned to, when she wanted to be absolutely “right”. Everyone from royalty to the stage appreciated Molyneux’s sureness of line and gifted insight into chic.

Born in 1891, he won a contest sponsored by Lady Duff Gordon (The dressmaker Lucille and also a passenger on the Titanic) for a sketch of an evening gown. Wounded during World War 1, losing an eye, he opened a salon in Paris in 1918.

*With Madame Lanvin

With Lady Diana Cooper

Right from the beginning his simplicity of style and perfect taste was evident. Molyneux was known for conservative clothes but they were never staid or matronly. His typical customer was tall, thin and intelligent, and usually in her late twenties or thirties. He soon became known for his "never too rich or too thin" ideal and "refined at the edge of outrageous" look, frowning on superfluous decoration. Going on to dress European royalty like Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, British high society, actresses Greta Garbo, Gertrude Lawrence, Margaret Leighton, and Vivien Leigh, and interior decorator Syrie Maugham.

In The 30's the pure Molyneux look fully emerged. His streamlined backless white satin evening dresses with silver-fox furs thrown over the shoulder became the symbol of 30's elegance. He was best known for his wonderful handling of navy blue and black. His designs had ‘a thoroughly British upper-class restraint.’

Like most other couturiers he diversified into perfumes launching “Le Numero Cinq” (No 5) as his premier perfume. There are two mutually exclusive stories about Numéro Cinq. Apparently Molyneux had befriended Chanel, and together they hatched the idea of each bringing out a perfume called No 5 on the same day in 1921, to see whose perfume would be more popular. The outcome of that contest is no longer in doubt, but this version of the story says that Molyneux’ Cinq was far ahead of Chanel’s for several years. The other (recorded in Nigel Groom’s excellent Perfume Handbook) is that Molyneux brought out several perfumes at once in 1925 named after different addresses of the firm: 3, 14 and Numéro Cinq. Molyneux’s Numero Cinq was also referred to as “Le Parfum Connu” (The Known Perfume) to avoid troubles with Chanel. Either way, fashion designers clearly had more of a sense of humour then than now. Funny thing is both Chanel’s No 5 and Molyneux’s No 5 were in eerily similar bottles, so there could be some credence in the story related above.

He dressed the most elegant women right up to the outbreak of World War II and escaped from Paris to London in 1940.

During World War II, he operated out of London for the duration of the conflict and returned to Paris in 1946. However his health was not the same particularly his eyesight began to fail, so in 1950 he closed his Paris and London establishments and retired to Jamaica. In 1965 he came out of retirement and collaborated with his nephew to open “Studio Molyneux”, a high quality ready-to-wear line that received mixed reviews. He retired again in 1969, but Studio Molyneux continued under the direction of his cousin John Tullis until it closed in 1977.He died in 1974 at the age of 83.

The Captain as he was known as also collected an extensive Impressionist art collection, including paintings by Picasso, Monet, Manet and 17 Renoirs. They were sold as a 'lot' to Ailsa Mellon Bruce, who bestowed the entire collection upon the National Gallery of Art.

Time magazine described him as "the Parisian equivalent of Manhattan’s Mainbocher, a classicist devoted to the soft look and tailored line."

Savoir Faire in the Salle a Manger

For a sheer sense of scale and luxe nothing could even beat or even come close to the 1st class salle a manger aboard the French line’s Normandie of the 1930’s. Mind you we will never see the likes of such a room again in the future either on land or at sea. This was a temple of gastronomy where the elite of the day took their meals, which by the amount of items offered on the menu, could have seen them dining for hours on end.

Normandie was a showcase of the very best that France had to offer, naturally done completely in fantastic Art Deco-style. Thanks to the split funnel uptakes, the Normandie’s interiors were matched by no other ship. The interiors of the liner with filled with grand perspectives, spectacular entryways, and long, wide staircases.

Entering through the embarkation hall prospective diners entered through 20-foot tall doors adorned with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. I am sure that when one found one’s self at the top of the staircase leading into the First Class salle a manger for the first time your heart would have skipped a beat. After being announced by a bellboy attired in traditional French Line red livery you would have descended this grand staircase hoping that all were watching.

Ensconced by giant bas reliefs on each side of the entrance, you had to run the gauntlet under close scrutiny past the most sought after tables in the whole room into the main salle a manger.

Just on 200 tables and chairs were set in a shimmering, glittering temple of Savoir Faire. Illuminated by master glass craftsman Lalique, 12 tall pillars of Lalique glass were flanked by 38 matching columns along the walls of hammered glass panels. When illuminated from within the room took on an unparrelld glow. These with chandeliers hung at each end of the room gave the room a sparkling atmosphere which earned the Normandie the nickname "Ship of Light”.

Continually touted as being longer than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles the room rose 28 feet above the diner’s heads to cumulate in a coffered ceiling covered in gold leaf. Presiding over the far end of the room was “La Paix” a gilded bronze statue by Dejean, of a toga clad woman.

Combined with lighting, the shimmer of the ceilings and walls and the dazzling jewelry and haute couture of the day, this must have been a sight, which makes dining on Cunard’s latest incarnation of the Queen Mary seem like MacDonald’s.

On Ruhlman inspired furniture diners then spent several hours dining on menus that were continually noted for being some of the finest examples of French cuisine on the Atlantic.

No matter what class you were travelling in whether it be first or third, Lalique, Christofle and Sevres was the dinnerware of choice by the French line.

Just because you were travelling in 2nd class or tourist didn’t mean that you were left out. 2nd class diners somehow had to manage in the below room, with meals austerely limited to 6 or seven courses.

Now the Holy Grail of ship buffs (my self included) the Normandie and especially the salle a manger was such stuff as dreams are made on. Tragically after several years of service while being fitted out as a troop transport in New York during World War II she caught fire and was a total wreck, only to be sold for scrap metal.