Katoucha (former model and muse of YSL) found dead

[liberty33r1b]

so weird i never heard of her before....this sounds terrible.

 

[FASHIONLOVA]

she was huge in the 80s and 90s
and since she s been living in france for so long, that s why her story is bigger there

 

[Faith Akiyama]

Terrible news if it is indeed her...

 

[swizzlekiss0125]

according to cnn, parisian police confirmed it is her

 

[LetThemEatCake]

Sooo sad. Sick that because of her attempt to make something more public that is degrading to women she was silenced. I hope they find who did this to her.

 

[kezme44]

there are no signs of foul play

 

[LeBelAge]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/29/katoucha.dead.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Body of model found in Paris river


PARIS, France (AP) -- The body of Katoucha Niane, one of the first African women to attain international stardom as a model and a vocal opponent of female genital mutilation, was found in the Seine River, police said Friday.

The body of former top model Katoucha Niane has been found in the river Seine.





Known simply as Katoucha, the former top model for Yves Saint Laurent and other top designers was found Thursday near the Garigliano bridge in Paris, judicial police in Paris said.
An autopsy showed no signs of foul play, pointing to the possibility that the 47-year-old may have fallen accidentally into the river, they said.
She had been missing since January and was last seen returning home from a party. She lived in a houseboat near Paris' Alexandre III bridge, and her handbag was later found on the boat.
The Guinean-born model told The Associated Press in 1994 that she ran away to Europe at 17 aiming to be a model. Her big break came when Jules-Francois Crahay, then the designer at Lanvin, spotted her in a line-up. The label hired her as a fitting model. Her first catwalk modeling was for Thierry Mugler at the start of the 1980s.
After quitting the runway, she turned to speaking out actively against female circumcision, describing her own experience at age 9 in a book, "Katoucha, In My Flesh," which was published last year.
"I will never get the incomparable pain out of my head," she wrote in the book, which she dedicated to her three children.
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Vanity Fair's fashion and style director, Michael Roberts, said Katoucha was "one those girls who used her fame to spotlight the misfortunes of others."
"She always seemed so gracious and very lovely," he said. "She was sunny and she was bright, and I liked her a lot."
Katoucha set up her own label in 1994 after years of modeling for the likes of Christian Lacroix and Saint Laurent. Singers Cher and France's Johnny Hallyday were among the stars who turned out for her show.
"I don't pretend to be like Lacroix, Saint Laurent or the others," she said at the time. "But I was certainly in a great school by wearing their clothes and going to the fittings. I learned several basic lessons, including: Don't cut the fabric until you've got the 'toile,' or heavy linen prototype, just right."
Katoucha was the daughter of Djibril Tamsir Niane, an archaeologist and writer. She said that her father was initially disappointed that she didn't become "a professional intellectual, with a university degree," but later reconciled to her other successes

 

[BerlinRocks]

RIP Katoucha....
that is really sad....
this is her. She's gone, now.....

 

[LUXXX]

it s when vaginal lips are cut!!!!

...OMG....what is the purpose of doing that?!!

 

[misssakura]

It's more than just cutting the vaginal lips, it's removing the clitoris and sewing up the vaginal entrance so that the girl remains 'pure' until the wedding night where the husband will 'break the seal'. It also ensures that the girl (who now has no sexual pleasure) will remain faithful to her husband and won't seek sexual pleasure with another man.

 

[LUXXX]

Oh...how awful...sounds very barbaric...

 

[snowqueen]

aww poor darling .. god knows what happened to her .. at least in her short life she did alot of good, bringing public awareness to this horrible practice etc. may she rest in eturnal peace

 

[wrngco]

Sounds like she tried to make a difference and that she was smart..RIP

 

[smartarse]

oh mercy me. she was one of the most beautiful professional mannequin that ever graced the showrooms. a true classic beauty.

RIP Katoucha

 

[smartarse]

the female castration is practiced across Africa and the muslim world. but i think more so in Africa.

other models like Iman have raised wareness of such culture.

 

[nanker_phledge]

I'm not that surprised, it's been rumoured for weeks now.Her partner (?) said that he was fearing it was a suicide, she was suffering from depression.

 

[silk skin paws]

So tragic r.i.p.

 

[IncurableLunatic]

this is sad i hope she rest in peace

 

[MulletProof]

oh jeez!. I remember reading an article she wrote in Reader's Digest MANY years ago.. I must've been 9. it was about that African practice..

it's so sad.. the only time I saw her modeling was at Yves Saint Laurent's final show. she was truly gorgeous. .

such terrible circumstances she had to die in, really. I just hope something good can come out of this, at least in terms of awareness of what she was fighting against and what these people are capable of doing against women..

 

[sethii]

from BBC

Top model's body found in river

Katoucha became a global catwalk star in the 1980s

French police have confirmed that a body found in the River Seine in Paris was that of the Guinean former top model, Katoucha Niane.

Her body was spotted under a bridge by a passer-by a month after she vanished.

Officials said her death seemed to be accidental, but that a post-mortem examination was needed to determine the exact cause of death.

She was one of the first black African models to become a global catwalk star, in the 1980s.

The mother of three, originally from Guinea, disappeared after being dropped off from a party. Her handbag was later recovered near the houseboat where she lived.

Outspoken campaigner
Aged 47, and known simply as Katoucha, she worked with some of the world's top designers at the height of her career, including Yves Saint-Laurent and Christian Lacroix.

I embodied the most arrogant and admired kind of femininity, I who was supposed to be diminished

Katoucha Niane

She left the catwalk in 1994, but in recent years made headlines as an outspoken campaigner against female circumcision, launching a foundation against the practice.

Having undergone the procedure herself at the age of nine, in Guinea, Ms Niane recounted the ordeal in a recent book, called In My Flesh. She said she saw her career as a top model as a form of "revenge" for the horror of genital mutilation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7271011.stm