Willy Bogner Jr. | |
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Bogner in 2014
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Born |
Willy Herman Björn Bogner January 23, 1942 Munich, Germany |
Occupation | Fashion designer, alpine skier |
Spouse(s) | Sônia Ribeiro (1972–present) |
Parent(s) | Willy Bogner Snr. (father) |
Awards | Goldene Seidenschleife Bambi Award |
Website | shop-us |
Labels | Bogner |
Willy Bogner, Jr. (born 23 January 1942) is a former alpine ski racer from West Germany and a renowned fashion designer and inheritor of the Bogner clothing brand, originally set up as "Willy-Bogner-Skivertrieb" by his father, Willy Bogner, Sr..
Born in Munich, Bogner competed for the Unified Team of Germany shortly after turning 18 at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley. He led the competition in the men's slalom after the first run, but fell during the second run. That season, he won the prestigious Lauberhorn downhill at Wengen, Switzerland. In 1962, he became double world student champion in alpine skiing's slalom and alpine combined event.
On 12 April 1964, Bogner led a group of 14 world-class skiers in the Engadine Val Selin in Switzerland, near St. Moritz, below Trais Fluors. They were filming scenes of a ski fashion movie Ski Fascination (1966). for which he was the producer. An avalanche was triggered, where the air pressure caused the departure of a second avalanche on the opposite slope. Several members of the group were buried. Bogner's girlfriend Barbi Henneberger and American Buddy Werner were recovered but had not survived. Both had raced ahead of the first avalanche, but were caught by the second. Found hours later, their deaths were attributed to suffocation, and were the only two fatalities in the group.
Bogner, 22, and Henneberger were to be engaged that summer; he was tried by a Swiss court for homicide by negligence. Initially acquitted, the prosecution later won a conviction on appeal, of manslaughter by negligence, and Bogner received a two-month suspended sentence.