Tina Chow

Tina Chow (born Bettina Louise Lutz, April 18, 1950 – January 24, 1992) was an American model and jewelry designer who was considered an influential fashion icon of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the second wife of restaurateur Michael Chow, the founder and owner of the Mr Chow restaurant chain.

Early life Chow was born Bettina Louise Lutz in Lakewood, Ohio. Her mother, Mona Furuki, was Japanese. Her father, Walter Edmund Lutz (1910–2003), was an American of German descent. Walter Lutz met Mona Furuki on Christmas Day 1945, while serving with the United States Army in occupied Japan. Chow's sister is artist, designer and actress Adelle Lutz.

Chow was cited by fashion magazines for her unique style and her collection of Mariano Fortuny dresses. She routinely paired inexpensive items with high fashion pieces and mixed feminine and masculine styles simultaneously. Chow was also noted for her androgynous Eton crop hairstyle which she had cut at a New York barbershop and styled with Dippity Do. In 1985, she was named on the International Best Dressed List.

Jewelry designing In the late 1980s, Tina Chow designed and produced several collections of jewelry. Using rock crystal, gold, silver, wood, bamboo, and silk cording. In 1987, the first collection was sold at Bergdorf Goodman in New York,

Personal life In 1973, Tina married Michael Chow, who owns the Mr. Chow restaurant chain. The Chows had two children including China. The couple divorced in November 1989.

Later years and death After her marriage to Michael Chow ended, Tina Chow began to drift away from the party lifestyle for which the couple had become known. She became an AIDS activist after having lost many friends to the disease. She made her diagnosis public in an effort to educate others and continued working as an AIDS activist and with AIDS charities, including Project Angel Food. Chow continued designing jewelry.

Chow moved to California, where she chose to treat her illness with meditation and a macrobiotic diet. On January 24, 1992, she died of complications from AIDS at her home in Pacific Palisades at the age of 41.