American fashion model Betty Bridgers (1923–1993) arrived on New York’s fashion scene in the early Forties (the tail-end of an era when agency bosses like Harry Conover and John Robert Powers regularly rebranded their new discoveries), and was quickly successful — booking regular assignments with Genevieve Naylor and Nina Leen, and being chosen by Louise Dahl-Wolfe for Bazaar’s first postwar international trip.
Betty Bridgers in the 1940s
Together with Bobbie Monroe, Bridgers was photographed as Bazaar’s new All-American girl — young sleek, athletic, golden-skinned. Back in Manhattan, she joined the fledgling Ford agency, and was soon earning $25 an hour.
Like Tedi Thurman and Marilyn Ambrose, Bridgers had one of those powerfully-built faces that had matched the mood of the late Forties to perfection — but which never quite seemed at home amidst the arch, increasingly self-aware editorials of the decade that followed.
In the mid-Fifties, Bridgers retired, marrying the son of a wealthy Washington industrialist and moving to a comfortable Long Island afterlife. Take a look at these glamorous photos to see portraits of a young Betty Bridgers as a model in the 1940s.
Betty Bridgers, beauty editorial on face masks, Kodachrome by Leslie Gill, Harper’s Bazaar, February 1946
Betty Bridgers in a sky-blue faille evening coat with a flaring peplum and wing-like shoulders with a long tail swishing down the back over slim black dress by Antonia Castillo, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, March 1946
Betty Bridgers in beachwear by Claire McCardell, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 1946
Betty Bridgers in black wool jersey top pulled down below the hips wrapped in mustard yellow and black Balinese print pants by B.H. Wragge, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, May 1946
Betty Bridgers in black-and-white checked wool coat with buttons and belt in bright red leather by Philip Mangone, white hat by John Frederics, photo by Genevieve Naylor, Harper’s Bazaar, March 1946
Leave a Reply