Tina Chow
| Tina Chow | |
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| Born | Bettina Louise Lutz April 18, 1950 Lakeview, Ohio |
| Died | January 24, 1992 (aged 41) Pacific Palisades, California |
Tina Chow (April 18, 1950 – January 24, 1992)[1] was a model, jewelry designer and influential fashion icon in the 1980s. She was also a member of the International Best Dressed List from 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.[4] In the mid-1960s, the family moved from Ohio to Japan, where both sisters were discovered by a modeling agent and became the faces of Japanese cosmetic line Shisheido and featured prominently in their ad campaigns from the early 1970s.
In 1972, Tina married Michael Chow, who owns the Mr. Chow restaurant chain. During her modeling career she was photographed by Helmut Newton, Cecil Beaton and Arthur Elgort, among others.
The Chows had two children, a daughter named China and son Maximillian. China, born in 1974, is a model and an actress. Maximillian was born in 1978.[4]
Michael and Tina Chow were friends of 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.[4] as well as painted by Andy Warhol.
During the late 1980s Tina Chow designed and produced several collections of jewelry. Using rock crystal, gold, silver, wood, bamboo, and silk cording, she created remarkably beautiful pieces which were considered cutting edge at the time. In 1987, the first collection was sold at Bergdorf-Goodman in New York, Maxfield’s in Los Angeles, at Ultimo in Chicago, and later (from 1988) at Gallerie Naila Monbrison in Paris. Perhaps one of the best known pieces in the collection is the “Kyoto Bracelet,” which is a woven bamboo bangle which encases seven rough rock crystals or rose quartzes in their natural form. The crystals, left loose inside the bamboo casing, rattle around as the wearer moves about. For the bamboo wrapping and basketry work in the collection Tina enlisted Kosuge Shochikudo, one of Japan’s master craftsmen in the art of bamboo. In April 1988, designer Calvin Klein accessorized the showing of his Fall/Winter 1988/89 collection with Tina Chow’s jewelry.
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 [edit]
- ^ 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/
- ^ "The Best-Dressed List: The International Hall of Fame: Women". Vanity Fair. July 7, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-12-18.
- ^ Lambert, Bruce (January 26, 1992). "Bettina L. Chow, Model and Designer, Dies at 41". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-12-25. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Gross, Michael (March 2, 1992), "Lost Angel: The Death and Life of a Woman of Fashion", New York Magazine: 29–36, retrieved 2009-12-04
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