Mickey Mouse is an obsession of Michael Chow, figuring five times, in cast iron, in Chinese rug work, in china, in tin, and even in abstract—Oldenberg’s sculpture in front of the desk. Michael, who runs five restaurants and one club in London, and is opening a restaurant in Los Angeles, is a compulsive collector. His office in a studio flat in Knightsbridge contains a splendid Art Deco desk on a platform, an Art Nouveau rug, two Richard Smiths, and a Robyn Denny, all bathed in Mozart and Bach, with windows opening on to a flower-filled verandah. “It’s a thinking office more than a working office. I sit at the desk and toss a coin for where I’ll go to lunch.” Michael and Tina Lutz were married recently. Tina is wearing an orchid pink mushroom pleat Fortuny bought at a Christie’s sale.

“It’s a photograph dress, not a wearing dress,” says Michael Chow. “And that reminds me of a story. This man sold a thousand tins of sardines, and the buyer rang him up and said, ‘I’ve just eaten one of your sardines. It was disgusting,’ and this man said, `You fool, they weren’t eating sardines, they were buying and selling sardines.’ “

Photographed by Barry Lategan.

Scanned from Vogue, October 15th 1973.