Betty Bachz fronts HFM’s special luxe issue and talks exclusively to us about quitting her career in the city where she worked as a hedge fund analyst to set up optical brand Møy Atelier, with childhood friend Torunn Lovise Gullaksen, in 2015. Nowadays the stylish model is now a regular on the catwalk and front row at London Fashion Week.
“We thought we could change now or continue to follow our current paths. That’s when we decided to go into eyewear and created Møy. It was two years of planning, and about fine-tuning everything. We tried the frames on thousands of people to perfect our debut collection,” she says of the elaborate designs that are often plated in 12 -18 carat gold.
The double master’s degree graduate moved from China with her family as a young child. “My parents come from a different background and leaving my career was unexpected for them, but they realise how important it is to me to love my job and have passion for it. None of my family has had the luxury to be creative – it has been about survival for them. For me, as a millennial, I have so much choice – they just haven’t been in that world.”
Betty followed her dream of moving to London six years ago and she is now a firm fixture on the city’s party scene. “I have become friends with so many creatives that I have collaborated with and am now best friends with. It is so nice because I’ve finally found a family in the industry. It didn’t happen in the first year, but now I feel so safe when I go to events and industry things because I’m part of a community of influencers, models, designers, brand owners and journalists.”
VIDEO: Watch Betty on her HFM! cover shoot
Although she was scouted aged fifteen, Betty didn’t find it easy working as a model in the back in the early 00s. “I didn’t think it could be a career – even though I knew I was scouted for a reason. Hobby, yes, but I didn’t think it was a possibility for someone that looks like me. I didn’t feel very beautiful because I didn’t have that particular aesthetic.
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“When I went on castings the feedback was mostly ‘Just go back to where you belong’. I would say ‘I’m Norwegian though’, as I associated myself with being from Norway. But people would say, ‘If you want to succeed as a model you need to be in Asia’. It’s disheartening, when you have had the courage to try something out.”
HFM’s December/January issue is out Tuesday 6 November.
To find out more about Betty, and to see our exclusive shoot pick up the latest editor of Hello Fashion Monthly.
