Tina Chow (1951 – 1992) was a fashion icon in the 1980s and surprisingly, never been the mainstream beauty. She was American with mixed German-Japanese heritage. Chow started modeling as a teen, until she moved to New York in the early seventies and became a Warhol-circle regular.
Tina married Michael Chow, who owns the Mr. Chow restaurant chain. They have two children, a daughter named China and son Maxmillian. During the separation from Chow, she had high-profile 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.
As an Asian-American, Chow represented the new diversity and universalism of modern beauty, but her fashion intelligence was even greater than her beauty. She is known for her chic, minimalist daily ‘uniform’ of white T-shirts, flat-front Kenzo trousers, ballet flats and men’s cardigans. Chow was a woman so obviously feminine, yet in short cropped hair and menswear! She is a universe away from tangled hair, angsty teens with a ton of eyeliner decked out in leggings.
Tina died on at the age of 41, she spent her last days at her home in California.
I have meet 2 out of 3 in the picture of j-m basquiat - tina chow - andy warhol. Sad to say - it was not tina chow.
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