Tina Chow

Tina Chow
Born Bettina Louise Lutz
April 18, 1950(1950-04-18)
Lakeview, Ohio
Died January 24, 1992(1992-01-24) (aged 41)
Pacific Palisades, California

Tina Chow (April 18, 1950–January 24, 1992)[1] was an internationally renowned model and a fashion icon in the 1980s. She is also a member of the International Best Dressed List since 1985.[2]

Chow was born Bettina Louise Lutz; in Lakeview, Ohio. Her father, Walter Edmund Lutz, was an American of German descent, while her mother, Mona Lutz (née Furuki), was Japanese.[3] Walter Lutz met Mona Furuki on Christmas day 1945, while serving with the United States Army in occupied Japan.[4] Chow's sister is actress Adelle "Bonnie" Lutz.[5]

In 1972, Tina married Michael Chow, who owns the Mr. Chow restaurant chain. During her model career she was photographed by Cecil Beaton and Arthur Elgort.

They have two children, a daughter named China and son Maximillian. China, born in 1974, is a model and an actress. Maximillian was born in 1978.[6]

Michael and Tina Chow were among the most famous New York celebrities, making many friends among the Big Apple's art world, including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Mary Boone, and Henry Geldzahler. She was also a friend of Paloma Picasso and Manolo Blahnik. She was drawn by illustrator Antonio Lopez.[6] During an estrangement from Chow, she had affairs with Richard Gere and a bisexual French fashion arbiter Kim d’Estainville. From d’Estainville, she contracted HIV, becoming one of the first heterosexual women to become infected with the disease that would eventually end her life.

Chow died of AIDS on 24 January 1992, at the age of 41. She spent her last days at her home in Pacific Palisades, California.

Her couture collection was sold in 1993 by Christie's in New York.

References

  1. ^ According to the State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.ancestry.com/
  2. ^ Vanity Fair
  3. ^ Lambert, Bruce (January 26, 1992). "Bettina L. Chow, Model and Designer, Dies at 41". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/26/nyregion/bettina-l-chow-model-and-designer-dies-at-41.html. Retrieved May 25, 2010. 
  4. ^ Gross, Michael. "Lost Angel: The Death and Life of a Woman of Fashion". New York Magazine, March 2, 1992. pp 29-35. Accessed July 29, 2011. [1]
  5. ^ Gross, Michael. "Lost Angel: The Death and Life of a Woman of Fashion". New York Magazine, March 2, 1992. pp 29-35. Accessed July 29, 2011. [2]
  6. ^ a b Gross, Michael (March 2, 1992), "Lost Angel: The Death and Life of a Woman of Fashion", New York Magazine: 29–36, http://books.google.com/books?id=aeQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA29, retrieved 2009-12-04