5 true crimes that shocked the fashion world There's blood on the catwalk
That the fashion world has dark sides is well known, but there are some pages of its history darker than others. The fashion system has a long list of tragic deaths. Some of these were suicide, as in the case of Alexander McQueen and Kate Spade, both of whom hanged themselves in their respective homes; others are unexpected incidents, such as that of the founder of Blumarine, Gianpaolo Tarabini Castellani, killed in Zimbabwe by two elephants during a safari or the fatal car crashes of Nicola and Francesco Trussardi. But some of these deaths have become real news stories or because of the high profile of the characters involved or the mystery that surrounds them.
Below are the five most famous and violent episodes in which the tragic reality of death burst into the muffled world of catwalks, wealth and glossy magazines.
The Versace Murder
Dorothy Stratten is young and beautiful. At the age of 18, she moved from icy Canada to Los Angeles after a local pimp, Paul Snider, with whom she ended up getting married, sent Playboy photos that made her noticed by Hugh Hefner himself. A year later, Dorothy became Miss August 1979, works as a bunny in the legendary Playboy Club in Los Angeles and Hefner, who has great confidence in her, promotes her acting career by procuring small television parts waiting for the great Occasion. Neither Hefner nor Dorothy's friends like Snider, an unpleasant figure of a petty criminal, who, after his divorce from Dorothy, becomes a real stalker. In 1980 Dorothy is about to make the big leap: she is elected Playmate of the Year and her new boyfriend, director Peter Bogdanovich, is about to make her the protagonist of a high-end film. But Paul Snider, in the throes of depression, persecutes her and continues to see her under the guise of divorce proceedings. On the evening of August 13, 1980, Dorothy's roommate returns home, sees the parked cars, and thinks she and Snider have reconciled and are now in the bedroom. In the meantime the hours pass, no one leaves the room. The girl goes to check and discovers the naked corpses of Dorothy and Snider in the room, a murder-suicide carried out with a shotgun. Dorothy was in her early twenties, the entry point of the 12-gauge bullet was just above her left eye, her body showed signs of violence.
