Model, muse, couture collector and designer, Tina Chow is a fashion icon in the truest sense of the term. After serving as the face of Shiseido’s 1960s beauty campaigns, Tina moved to London and then New York City, where she became a key figure in the city’s fashion and art scenes. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Tina played confidante to Manolo Blahnik, portrait subject to Andy Warhol, and hostess to a glittering crowd of friends (Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall, Iman, et al.) at the New York outpost of her husband’s restaurant empire.
Tina’s personal style is just as storied as her life. The daughter of a couturier, Tina held a lifelong fascination with the lives of clothes and in the 1970s became a major fashion collector. Tina’s massive couture collection housed over 100 museum-quality pieces by Vionnet, Schiaparelli, and Fortuny, among others. The thing is that these garments didn’t just languish beneath plastic in some storage room; they became part of Tina’s living wardrobe. We’re talking 1930s Schiaparelli worn to Paloma Picasso’s wedding and Fortuny Delphos gowns paired with Manolo Blahnik kitten heels at Mr. Chow’s.
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Tina’s singular look—minimalist and androgynous by day, eclectic and otherworldly by night—made her muse to designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, and Karl Lagerfeld, the latter who dressed her in some of his very first creations for Chanel. But Tina was more than just a muse; in the late 80s, she became a designer in her own right launching a line of ‘new age’-inspired jewellery that revolutionized the industry.
Here, ahead of what would have been her 73rd birthday (18 April), we look back at the late fashion icon’s legendary style through seven of her most iconic outfits.
In London, 1976
Tina was a massive couture collector with a collection that included pieces from Balenciaga, Vionnet, Chanel, Dior and Schiaparelli. Among them all, her favourite designer was Mariano Fortuny. According to the label, Tina owned 17 to 18 Fortuny pieces, between its iconic Delphos Dresses and Knossos Shawls. Here, to a party in London, Tina wears one of those shawls: a velvet number meticulously hand-stenciled by the designer.
At Paloma Picasso’s wedding with Manolo Blahnik, 1978
Not only was Tina a fashion collector, she was also a friend and muse to a number of designers, including Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, and Manolo Blahnik. Tina met Manolo through mutual friend Kansai Yamamoto in 1972. “The moment I saw her, I thought, my God, this girl!” the shoe designer said. “[Tina] was the only person I could call up and talk to about my shoes. She was so far ahead in her thinking, and she had such a strong idea of what worked. It was her, more than anyone, who encouraged me to push forward; to do what I wanted to do and not what I thought I should.” Tina owned over 30 pairs of Manolo Blahniks and referred to them as her “dear friends.” Here, the duo attend Paloma Picasso’s wedding, Tina wearing a beaded gown and jacket from Schiaparelli’s Autumn/Winter 1938 collection.
Photographed by Antonio Lopez, 1975
In addition to being a fashion industry darling, Tina also played muse to a number of artists including Andy Warhol and Antonio Lopez. Here, posing for one of Antonio’s iconic polaroids, Tina wears one of her many Fortuny Delphos gowns. Produced only from 1907 until about 1950, these gorgeous hand-pleated silk dresses became major collectors items in the 1970s, with Tina leading the charge, of course.
At Mr. Chow Beverly Hills, 1979
In 1973, Tina married Michael Chow, restaurateur and founder of the iconic Chinese chain Mr. Chow. The duo had been introduced by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes two years prior and, together, the couple became celebrities in the international fashion and art scenes. Throughout the late 1970s, Tina played hostess at Mr. Chow’s New York location to a menagerie of friends, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jerry Hall. Here, the duo pose together at Mr. Chow’s Beverly Hills outpost, Tina wearing another of her Fortuny gowns. Note the leopard-print Manolos peeking out the bottom. Chic!
Attending a fashion show in New York, 1984
Did you know that Tina was an OG Karl Lagerfeld muse? Here, with Karl at a Chanel fashion show in New York, Tina wears the iconic “L’Imperatrice” dress from the house’s SS84 couture collection. She also famously modeled the legendary finale look from Karl’s first-ever Chanel couture collection in the pages of Tatler the year prior.
In Vogue, 1984
Before becoming one of New York’s glitterati, Tina began her career as a commercial model. After being scouted by a Japanese modelling agency, Tina (along with her sister Adelle) became the faces of beauty brand Shiseido in the late 60s. By the early 70s, Tina was appearing in the pages of Vogue and on the runways of designers like Zandra Rhodes before becoming a front row staple, herself. Here, Tina appears in the August 1984 issue of Vogue, this time not as a model in someone else’s feature, but as the star herself. The feature in question was a celebration of Tina’s already-iconic style and in its lead photograph she wears a vinyl trench coat by good friend Yves Saint Laurent.
Showing off her jewelry line, 1987
Model, muse, collector, hostess and, now, jewellery designer. In 1987, Tina brought the world of “new age” to fashion with the launch of her debut jewellery collection at Bergdorf Goodman’s. Tina’s jewels, made predominantly of bamboo, crystals and various gemstones, took inspiration from her Japanese heritage and her interest in Tibetan Buddhism. She has described her jewellery as “personal amulets and power pieces”, which serve as both talisman and adornment. Here, Tina wears an assortment of her jewelry, including wire-wrapped pearl earrings, a chunky quartz cuff, and her most famous creation, the Kyoto bracelet — a woven bamboo bangle encasing seven loose crystals intended to rattle about as the wearer moves.