Six years older than Bardot, journalist and aspiring screenwriter Vadim was regarded with deep suspicion by Bardot's strict, Roman Catholic family when he started dating her.
In the Sixties and early Seventies, there was no better known - or more scandalous - movie star on earth.
Trendsetting came early, easily, and often for Bardot, as she popularized the once-infamous bikini and even got a wide-shoulder neckline named after her.