Born in France, Simone Micheline Bodin was described as "a freckle-faced rail worker's daughter from Brittany"[2] before becoming a model.

"[2] Bodin was invited by Christian Dior to join his fashion house which she refused, choosing instead to work for Fath.

[1] She was associated with Lucien Lelong and Jacques Fath, but most importantly with Hubert de Givenchy, for whom she worked as a model and press agent.

One of his designs, the Byronesque "Bettina blouse", became a fashion icon in the early 1950s and inspired the bottle for the best-selling Givenchy perfume Amarige.

[4] After a short marriage to Gilbert "Benno" Graziani (1922–2018), a French photographer and reporter, she became the companion of Peter Viertel, the American screenwriter.