The Anatomy of Isabella Blow by Alexander Al Kafi

Isabella Blow

"My sister, Isabella, was passionate and totally dedicated to fashion - but only her closest friends knew of her love of gardens, and in particular, roses,”

"Their unique colour and beauty combined with their thorny nature greatly appealed to her and to her distinctive eye. She would have been extremely honoured to receive this wonderful gift from her most beloved friend, Alexander." Julie Broughton, Isabella’s sister

Isabella with her parents / Isabella on her wedding day with Detmar Blow.

Issy…

sabella Blow was born in 1958, as Isabella Delves Broughton. She was an English

fashion editor, pioneer, also considered Muse, stylist, fashion Icon and nutruer for young fashion talents. Notoriously known for her extravagant interpretation of style and extrovert dress sense creating an identity through fur coat, red lipstick and hats. She contributed to Vogue USA then became the fashion director of Tatler magazine UK and London’s Sunday times, befriended with Warhol, Lichtenstein and Basquiat and discovered and nourished many of today’s great talents; she championed Alexander McQueen while he was still an unknown fashion student. She lived a life between reality and fantasy dominated by art, success, tragedy, depression and unhappiness. Born in Marylebone, London, England, daughter of a military officer she was the eldest child besides two sisters and a brother who passed away at the age of two when Isabella was 14 years old. Isabella was sent to Heathfield School in Ascot, Surrey for high school and after finishing her education she moved into a London where she started to work in some shops then as a cleaner to earn money.1 In 1979 she moved to New York to study ancient Chinese art at Columbia University, where she became friends with many prominent artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michael Basquiat and Roy Lichenstein. 2 In 1980, she started to work with the designer Guy Laroche but it didn’t last very long, she returned to New York a year later where she was first introduced to Anna Wintour for the first time and soon after she was hired as her assistant. At the time, Wintour was Fashion Director of the iconic fashion bible ‘Vogue’. Isabella proved her skills an natural talent with her sense of style and fashion and became one of the most important face seen during runaway shows and after party guest in the international style circuit. A year later, in 1981 she was married to Nicholas Taylor but the marriage ended in divorce two years later. In 1986 Blow moved back to London and began working at Tatler magazine, assisting the fashion editor Michael Roberts. In 1988, she met her second husband Detmar Blow. 2 Becoming Isabella Blow.

Isabella Blow with Philip Treacy / Alexander Lee McQueen

sabella was unique and had no predecessor who gained notoriety for a series of

discoveries that became leading figures in the world of fashion; a world where fashion was becoming revolutionary and democratic, everyone was chased by the latest fashion designers collection meanwhile Isabella was more into discovering and creating them. From the moment she bought the entire degree show of Alexander McQueen in 1991 and, she began to practice of nurturing new talents that would come to define her life in the fashion world. First came Philip Treacy, in 1989, when he was still a student and turned up at Tatler carrying a green crocodile hat. Issie was instantly smitten, called the Royal College of Art, where Treacy was studying, and said she was getting married and could he make her a hat.3 Then she became the one and only Muse for the designer.

Isabella’s’ career was blooming as one of the most prestigious publications and a reputation that she was able to create amongst the upper eccentric world of fashion that was a dream for most people at that time. Isabella became the face of the front row during fashion shows and center to the top events. …and then she met Lee while attending the Central Saint Martins MA graduate show in 1991, three years after discovering Treacy. She spotted the work of a particular student Alexander McQueen. Isabella felt so connected to his works and his personality that she called him up and said, “I know this sounds weird, but I’d like to buy the whole thing.” Which she did, she bought McQueen's entire graduate collection for £5,000, and began supporting him and his talent in any way she could. She also got on the phone with every fashion contact she’d ever made and raved about him. Blow was devoted to, absolutely devoted to, McQueen, and vice versa. She continued to beg her connected fashion friends to come see, to support, to photograph, to wear. His talent was evident, and his star rose quite quickly.3 the two instantly became starcross souls. Their pair could was becoming one of the most powerful duos in the industry. She was also credited for discovering the designer Hussein Chalayan, the model Sophie Dahl, who she spotted crying on Kensington street corner, and Stella Tennant.

Isabellaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coffin at her funeral / her husband Detmar Blow standing behind

s Isabella flourished during the 1990s her own unique vision of beauty and the

world had its opportunity to bloom. And it was a vision that, more often harnessed by the beauty of medieval Gothicism. Her fearlessness, in an industry that runs on fear, is legendary; she was a champion of young creative people without a voice. I was like her soul belonged there, a passionate belief that fashion is about a pursuit of beauty, elegance and creativity. From those early days, the unique contrast of high fashion and chaotic discord that was to define her public persona was there in full force. Blow’s own statement was complicated. It spoke of a love for extreme beauty and detail, and of history, and a rare sensitivity to proportion and silhouette. But it’s no accident that so many favorite outfits included hats that obscured huge parts of her face. So many of her clothes were so extreme that they actually drew attention away from her and toward a marvelous shoe, or a trim little waistline, or the bust of which she was infinitely proud.3 In 1997, Isabella left Tatler to work at the Sunday Times, after a couple of years she returned there to the publication as fashion director. In 2004, Isabella and Detmar Blow separated. During the couple's separation, Blow was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and began undergoing electroshock therapy. For a time, the treatments appeared to be helpful. After an eighteen month separation, Isabella and Detmar Blow were reconciled. Soon after, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.5 In the last year, Ms. Blow suffered from serious depression, attempting suicide at least twice, according to her friends. Depressed over her waning celebrity status and her cancer diagnosis, Blow began telling friends that she was suicidal. In 2006, Blow attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. Later that year, Blow again attempted suicide by jumping from a which resulted in her breaking both ankles.6 She died in hospital on May 7, 2007 after drinking the weed killer Paraquat. Philip Treacy created a hat resembling a black sailing ship which was placed atop her coffin, and she was buried in a red-and-gold brocade dress designed by McQueen. McQueen, Treacy and Blow's sister Julia helped dress the body.

The Anatomy

A Plantagenet Portrait

The theatre and performance of fashion and the way in which she disguised, dressed up and exploited diﬀerent aspects of personality that lay beneath the surface went to the heart of the challenging image that Isabella represented. She regularly expressed contradictory views once describing her own face as ugly. ‘I know that’s subjecGve, so perhaps I should stay instead that I’m striking. My face is like a Plantagenet portrait.’

Face of Mauvism

Having the vision of herself as someone ‘Ugly’ and as a portrait, deﬁned her as an arGst that plays with aestheGcal of ugliness as the painters from the Fauvism movement who was inspired by the ‘mauves’, french word to express the ugly or the wild.

The Issy Lifestyle

The eccentric belief in fashion and her devotedness was not something temporary for fashion shows or event but a statement, a way of living no maPer where she was. 1) Isabella at Philip Treacy’s shop in 67 Elizabeth Street London 2) Isabella at work 3) Isabella Blow at her desk in Tatler magazine oﬃce in London 4) Isabella before she leC for her father’s funeral. She said: ‘I don’t have to look poor’.

“Issy had the most wonderful ability to elevate even the most basic of tasks and turn it into something memorably thrilling. She had no time for anything humdrum, banal, or mundane—to the extent that the task of cleaning up her desk every night had to be done with a bottle of Perrier water and Chanel No. 5.” Anna Wintour

The Treacy Hats

The Lipstick

'If you don't wear lipstick I can't talk to you. You need to have lips. They are very important for getting men.' Isabella Blow 18

“I don’t use a hat as a prop,” she said once. “I use it as a part of me. If I am feeling really low, I go and see Philip, cover my face, and feel fantastic. Although, if I’m on a real low, it requires going to the doctor for a prescription.”

Her favourite ouVits were deﬁnitely the fur coats, red lipsGc and the Philip Treacy hats that obscured huge parts of her face. She was rarely seen in public without a Treacy hat and matching designer ouVit, her appearance was more than matched by her personality. Her unparalleled hat collecGon was a constant giW from designer Philip Treacy, a man whom Isabella discovered and believed in as an arGst. Isabella was Treacy’s muse as well. Philip Treacy once said in an interview ‘ I was so inspired by the way she wore my hats, she wore them like she was not wearing them – like they happened to be there’ and of Philip, Isabella had much to say too: ‘he’s like a cosme;c surgeon for your face. Your face has a diﬀerent personality for each one you’re wearing.’

The Looks

The Bride wore Violet Isabella Blow’s wedding gown

Isabella Broughton got married to Detmar Blow in 1989 at Gloucester Cathedral becoming Isabella Blow. On her wedding day she was wearing a long violet velvet gown covering her whole body including a Phlilip Treachy hat for the ﬁrst Gme. She expressed her way of being, state of mind that was very dramaGc through a Medieval, Pre-‐Raphaelite painGng adapted in a wedding gown.

As for the ornaments, she adapted an Indian / Matahari style necklace with a gold-‐lace headdress ‘crown’ style hat by Treacy assembled with the purple velvet gown covered in hand-‐embroidered. demonstrate how deep she was regarding culture and history also some details behind them, like the helmet on the kids a total tribute to the middle age for a dark medieval and dramaGc eﬀect.

Isabella of Arc Her life was a theatre; the way she grew up, the inﬂuences she had from her own reality coming from the middle age harnessed by the beauty of medieval Gothicism. On the ﬁrst picture she is wearing a knight vector helmet in metal with a make up similar to a doll that makes her a female warrior dressed as Joan of Arc in costume armour with a chain mail headdress, it was a typically dramaGc picture of Isabella Blow. On the second picture she is wearing a medieval bishop costume. She wears all these garment as the ‘ w h o l e ’ t h i n g , n o t j u s t inspiraGons. Though a lot of designer were inspired by this religious costumes like the cassock by Schiaparelli.

Gothic Romantic

Isabella wearing a dress covering the enGre figure including the head piece just showing the neck. The dress is assembled by embroidered flowers straGfied on the fabric. A theatrical image of herself as she wanted the others to perceive. The head piece includes feathers with a forms of spears that allude a gothical view of the middle age that is in contrast with the flowers from romanGc era. To conclude the look I would say, the flower represents the vitality of herself and her constant blooming of ideas.

Japan I s a b e l l a , o n c e a g a i n demonstrate her cultural ability of combining of two opposite worlds. She is wearing a leather python bude skin color total look with a Philip Treacy hat composed by Japanese castles and oriental nature. Constantly creaGng this aspect between diﬀerent culture, the python leather is the cruelest form of fashion that ﬁnds peace in the oriental magicland that goes on her head. The silver clutch is also an important piece for the modern fashion. A total contrast again with the shiny silver and the dynamism of fashion. Japan was an inspiraGon for most of the designers from the 20 th century starGng from Paul Poiret, Doucet etc.

The Metal Dress Isabella wearing a metal dress that reminds of some Paco Rabanne c o l l e c G o n s f r o m t h e 6 0 ’ s . Assembled with red Philip Treacy hat and red lipsGck. She was shining as well in this shiny metal dress and according to her friends to see Isabella in all her ﬁnery, two-‐ dimensionally in a magazine or newspaper, was one experience; to meet her and interact with her was to witness another dimension enGrely. Isabella walked to the beat of her own drum. Her personality, her intelligence and her magic far transcended any hat or dress she could have worn. Isabella in a party with Philip Treacy and Hedi Slimane.

The Bird

The headpieces made by death birds contemplate the her inner self. Her constant desire for suicide and the relaGonship with death she had, could be explained in this headpiece that she carried on few Gmes. The ‘death’ ﬂies over her head and controls her. In the following looks like the head piece with birds wings combined with the yellow pajama/ chemise is at her apartment that can ensure that this was part of her eternal lifestyle and not something instable. She was doing the housework as every lady but in a very Isabella Blow style. Another is with the golden jumpsuit in her kitchen. There is no compromise about her. She is very much declaring with her style 'Here it is, you can like it or lump it.'

Her relationship with hats is a true love aﬀair - 'You can't be lonely in a hat' she says. It protects her from fashion vampires; 'that's why I wear the hats, to keep everyone away from me. They say, "Oh can I kiss you?" I say, '"No, thank you very much. That's why I've worn the hat. Goodbye." I don't want to be kissed by all and sundry.' Isabella Blow

Feather Hats

One of the material that was constant present in Philip Treacy hats are the feathers; each ouVit of Isabella was matched with a hat and the feathers helped to make the piece lighter to carry on. Various were the formes and shapes of these hats starGng with her spouse name Blow taken from her Husband Detmar Blow which shw was proud of probably because of the phoneGc sound of Isabella Blow. Her personal style is directly related to aspects of the persona she was. An own disGncGve personality, set of beliefs and opinions therefore her hats are part of her arGsGc integrity as her body is a canvas.

The Fur Stole

Isabella’s image was idenGﬁed by Fur coats and stoles besides the thats and red lipsGc. On the ﬁrst picture she is wearing a bright yellow stole with a lemon green crochet sweater and magenta hat a total combinaGon of color that she dared to wear and carry it with class with a Louis VuiPon pochePe. In the second look she is wearing a total look of silver gray with an one shoulder dress with shoes and hat in same color mixing the look with a bordeaux fur stole in her hand that gives the elegant Lady look. The hat as usual creates the extravagance. On the next page she is wearing another yellow stole with white gloves and a circus style hat. Surpassing the limit of high fashion with each single piece.

The Chessboard Tailleur This tallieur was deﬁnitely one of her favourite piece from her wardrobe we must say, she wore this combinaGon of chessboard tailleur with diﬀerent hats in several occasions. The black and white are the major colors of the fashion industry themselves. The blazer coat with padded shoulder combined with an A-‐line skirt somehow reminds of early 20° century fashion designers from Chanel to Yves Saint Laurent. A classical piece that helped Isabella to always stay modern and elegant with this Gmeless combinaGon.

Free as Hair

The ouVits and hats besides being a state of high fashion they bared Isabella’s vision of arGsG integrity. In this dress made by black fur that looks like hair can give an idea of lightness of the human hair that is our idenGty. Her ouVits can be explained with this statement by Elizabeth Wilson (teacher from london college of fashion) : "In all socieKes the body is 'dressed' and everywhere dress and adornment play symbolic, communicaKve and aestheKc roles. Dress is always 'unspeakably meaningful.' The earliest forms of 'clothing' seem to have been adornments such as body painKng, ornaments, scariﬁcaKons (scarring), taQooing, masks and oCen constricKng neck and waist bands. Many of these deformed, reformed or otherwise modiﬁed the body”. For Isabella it was just impossible to to wear clothes without transmimng social signals,

Spikey Issy

One statement of Isabella explained very well the connecGon of fashion and people; "People think that fashion is all frivolity and done by people who can’t do proper jobs,” says the writer Adrian Gill, “but Issie understood that it is very, very serious business in terms of civilizaKon and culture. It’s the one piece of culture that every single person in the world parKcipates in. Not everybody reads poetry or listens to music, but every single person in the world gets up in the morning and puts on something, and whether you like it or not, that’s a statement about who you are."

Futuristic Vision I s a b e l l a w e a r i n g f u t u r i s G c s t y l e sunglasses in some e v e n t s w i t h b l a c k t a i l l e u r s i n b o t h events. First one with Boy George wearing a silk top with a black talleur with futurisGc accessories, the hat that looks like an antenna and avant-‐ garde sunglasses which t o d a y c o u l d b e cosidered as 3D glasses a s w e l l a s g o o g l e eyewears.

“I wear them pretty well every day (hats), but to make myself look better. If I’m already looking ill, I just wear a pair of sunglasses.” Isabella Blow

Eclipse

Wearing a black coat with a hat covering her whole face that could be perceived as an eclipse by its color. A masterpiece of Philip Treacy probably created as a symbol of a halo for his muse. Possible inspiraGon from ‘The Weather Project’ by the arGst of modern art Olafur Eliasson.

The eclipse hat combined with a corset and a big fur coat, a contemplaGon between elegance and state of the mdoern art.

Full Moon

The fur coat with a tailleur all in same tone of color beige and pink with a Treacy hat that looks like a moon. Big fur coat in very hollywood 60’s style with the point-‐toe heels. It’s the hat that could be interpretated as a moon and herself as a warrior of the night.

Isabella Blow represented to me, a regally spontaneous eccentricity. Even trying to write about her encourages me to think paradoxical, quizzical, unheard of, even contradictory in words, but always with a very senKmental feeling. Seeing and meeKng her was always a tender choc, a touching taste of invenKon many Kmes, the outrageous leC place, from my part, to an uncondiKonal admiraKon. Our difference of age (she was much younger than me) created, parKcularly through some late, ‘fashion seasons,’ a very surprising rapport. It was like she wanted to protect me, to take care of me: she was worried that I lived alone and I had to reassure her that I was used to that. She was finding it rather surprising and I was, in a way, very much touched. I admired her very much for her consistency as a stylist-‐editor-‐in-‐chief of Tatler, not only deriving from her personal style but also certainly, from a ‘méKer formidable’ in editorial technique. About the collaboraKon with Philip Treacy she was infusing her taste in a mutual exchange of ideas and she was always a direcKonal source of inspiraKon, exuding poetry and literature. And again, paradoxically, never so much as at her Memorial. Seen, from the entrance of the Guards Chapel, the profiles of the ladies heads represented Her! Ah! The hats, the black silhoueQes, the elegance…. I will never forget. Fashion as the most beauKful and elegant theatre in life. And the last ‘adieu’ of Isabella as in a whirl of feathers. Real? Unreal? Anna Piaggi

Rainbow Latex

A very colorful and avant-‐garde look by Isabella; she is wearing a bodycon dress in very colorful latex with a fur stole mixed with green leather. For the accsessories she has futurisGc sunglasses in red and yellow with green bracelets. The shoes and the bag is in saGn colored fuxia. The shoes are very arGsGc t h a t r e m i n d s o f surrealism.

RED

A total red look in a velvet coat with voluminous fur collar matching with the circus style hat by Philip Treacy for a photo shoot.

The Saree

Isabella oWen adapted oriental fashion in her ouVits with kimono, hats featuring Japanese elements or a saree from Indian culture. She gave a modern touch to a tradiGonal ouVit with a white coat featuring fur in collar, chanel bag, a Treacy horn hat with point toe shoes. ‘She wore an elaborate saree creaKon that unravelled as she exited the Condé Nast nulding on Madison Aveneu. She didn’t noKce – or didn’t care – and hopped into a cab, only to get the fabric caught in the door. The last anyone saw of Issy that day was the silk sari streaming in the tailwind, heading uptown.’ Anna Wintour in her memorial speech in 2007

The Couture

As she lived for fashion, couture was a part of her ouVits. Isabella managed to create her personal stylewith the big hat covering her face with ﬁshnet and a big foulard around her head and neck, even though the dresses was cutom made for her

The Net Mask A n o t h e r c o m m o n m a t e r i a l applied on Philip Treacy’s hats was the ﬁshnet as she liked to cover her face in public.

“The mottled mirrors reﬂected those equine teeth, smudged with scarlet lipstick, some fantastical headdress that bobbed and swayed like a Calder mobile and a dress that appeared to have been fashioned from shards of mirror. You couldn’t have invented Issie. Every moment with her was gala, every moment was a Great Adventure. When she was up she was the essence of life itself.” Hamish Bowles, European editor-at-large at Vogue

The Lace Mask

The lace mask hat with a long black lace dress is a reminiscent of a gothic lady but very conﬁdent in everything show wore, and that what made her unique. Whatever she was wearing, she was doing that with conﬁdence and playing with her enGre image from head to to in this case of lace dress was the mysterious look that she liked to aPribute with her image and she did it quite well. At the end, the hats, according to the Isabella were the perfect alternaGve to plasGc surgery.

The Queen of Extravaganza

She posed once at Philip Treacy’s studio with all her glaze wearing a strapless McQueen dress and an over-‐size Treacy hat expressing all her power and conﬁdence in style through art and fashion.

Issy vs Surreality

The lobster as for a necklace and hat by Philip Teracy with the strapless white dress is one of her iconic ouVit. Inspired by the surrealism arGsGc movement and its elements in this case the lobster and marine animals that ws present in the works of the spanish arGst Salvador Dalì, inspired lot of designer such as Elsa Schiaparelli or Philip Treacy to create this pieces. Each object she wears speaks a language of signs, symbols and iconography that non-‐verbally communicates diﬀerent things. She was passionate about art and somehow also connected to that period where the group of arGsts and designer like Dalì and Schiaparelli collaborated together.

Another lobster hat in a fashion show with a soW pink fur coat, simng with Micheal Jackson which was another icon of fashion who played a lot with his looks as Isabella did. Her hats were the big-‐game kind, trophies of her wit and imaginaGon: a veiled set of antlers, a jewel-‐encrusted lobster, a sailing ship, a pheasant. Her more exoGc choices of headgear could be aPributed to an aestheGc link through the semioGc noGon of codes. Having this giant lobster is like carrying an art piece in herself that may gave her security in being herself. Playing with language of semioGc. An act of represenGng and presenGng ones rhetorical idea through clothes, or other body adornment. A ‘self-‐ fashioning’ arGculated with important characterisGcs of individuals including p e r s o n a l i t y , m o o d , a n d e v e n emoGons.

The Butterﬂy Eﬀect

Besides the lobster, also the buPerﬂy was another element from the surrealism movement that she applied on her single eye as a piace of art. Covering her face was part of her idenGty, she felt more secure and herself whenever she wore this creaGons meanwhile she was also expressing by art.

The Bowery Eﬀect

Blow having studied art in college she befriended with internaGonal modern arGsts such as Leigh Bowery from London. Bowery became inspiraGon to a lot of other personaliGes like Isabella, Boy George, McQueen etc. She is wearing this giant jacquard print hat with a kimono both very oriental Japanese style with this surralisGc lipsGck in a rectangular form suprassing the lips. Another point of bowery was creaGng the personal ‘idenGty’ so on this occasion, we can reﬂect on the look, the "mask" and idenGty. The clothes that we wear, the objects that surround us, the fashion which we adhere, obey a rule. Socially recognized and help us in the consGtuGon of an image accepted by our audience: help us to be the "person", that is, the social mask. Choosing which of the Mode will be lead us to our own idenGty.

The Wild One

Isabella wearing a horn hat with a lace dress in a jungle for a photo shoot. “It’s not a mad hatter’s tea party. It’s meant to be a sensual, erotic display. You’re there to get a new husband, a new boyfriend, and a new girlfriend, whatever. And you can get it. The hat is a means to an end, a marriage contract. It’s everything. It’s a sensual thing – the idea of catching somebody like a spider in a web. It’s the old fashioned cockand-hen story, the mating dance. Men love hats. They love it because it’s something they have to take oﬀ in order to **** you. Anyone can wear a hat.” Isabella Blow

The Trash Dress

The plasGc bags made as a dress with a could be explained as all the garbage ‘people’ hat she was dealing with in her life. Fashion was the risk that she liked to take as a game, she she played with this language, a semioGcs of fashion through body adornment, a language of their own, but can be read as an explanaGon and text of one’s personality and character. There aren't that many risk takers in the fashion industry. People are constantly following other people. True, original, risk-‐ takers are hard to come by and the picture below of Anna Piaggi and Isabella illustrates just an anGcipaGon of how much is important in today’s world to empower art of being oneself through idenGty, in this case fashion.

La Dame en Noir

Isabella in the middle of a desert in Kwait wearing an Alexander McQueen dress with ﬁshnets Gght and a Philip Treacy mask hat.

The Anarchist

“Issy told me that she believed art and fashion were the most precise barometers of time. She understood (and was fascinated by) the way the surface could conceal (and thereby simultaneously reveal) most of our defects and imperfections. She loved to talk about beauty, sex, love and death. She was irreverent, erotic, funny and as sharp as a pin. Through Issy, I eventually met Philip Treacy and we collaborated to make a hat for her. Large anarchy A’s cut from black neoprene scooped up into a frenzy on top of her head. A friend of mine went to the theatre with Issy and she wore the hat throughout the whole performance, totally obscuring the view…No one said anything to her, in any case. I think no one dared.” Simon Periton, artist

La Garçonne

Isabella communicates a change of style with this parGcular look that she adapted for her hairstyle with a white fur coat for a photoshoot. Could be deﬁned as a garçonne look for the hairstyle and the way she is posing. Isabella’s constant dialogue with fashion comes from the semioGcs of the english culture and just as semioGcs can change with Gme, also the fashion and its meaning changes everyday with her.

The Woman in Black

A total look in black with a Treacy hat covering her face with net and the point to shoes makes this look a tea gown from the Vitorian age. The selcGon of total black oWen charatarized her style, her unique personality, set of beliefs, opinions, and in order to convey that idenGty that she used her body as a canvas to project that idenGty. The fashion of Isabella reads much like a dialogue highlighGng certain codes and symbols to represent sentences that are able to explain idenGty. Isabella uses her clothes and her overall fashion to represent power, status, character, mood, apathy, or rebellion all in many diﬀerent manifestaGons.

1 2 1)  Alexander McQueen Spring Summer 2008 inspired by Isabella Blow’s life with Philip Treacy’s collaboraGon. 2) Lady GaGa wearing a lobster hat by Treacy 3) The lace mask hat As Isabella’s both hats re invented by Treacy in London.

sabella Blow contributed to the fashion world just being herself and living her life with this

major original flamboyant eccentric way. She had her own vision of reality, and she never gave up though the pain and mal du vivre beneath her. There was nothing about random about her dress sense, her ouVits, for someone misfits, commercially not fit were a controlled madness, an idea of extreme Gmeless style. In fact, she inspired not only Philip Treacy to create hats for her but a lot of designers, musicians, personaliGes like Alexander McQueen, Lady GaGa, Daphne Guinness or Anna Dello Russo. Alexander McQueen dedicated his spring/summer 2008 show to Blow, collaboraGng with Treacy to create ambiGous head pieces. In the March 2011 issue of American Vogue, Lady Gaga aPributed some of her success looks inspired byThe fashion community in general got me much earlier than everyone else. But actually, I felt truly embraced by this London cultural movement, the McQueen, Isabella, Daphne Guinness wing of the English crowd. I remember when I first started doing photo shoots people would say, 'My God, you look so much like Isabella Blow, it scares me.' And McQueen used to say, 'Oh, my God, your boobs!' He actually grabbed both of them and said, 'Even your boobs are like hers Isabella "!'" Isabella Blow was a very good friend of Daphne Guinness, in fact Wer her death Blow's sisters arranged an aucGon of Isabella's clothes at ChrisGe's, which included over 90 McQueen dresses, 50 Treacy hats and portraits of Blow by photographer Mario TesGno and Chanel creaGve director Karl Lagerfeld. The aucGon was later cancelled aWer Blow's friend Daphne Guinness bought the enGre lot. "The planned sale at ChrisGe's could only result in carnage, as souvenir seekers plundered the incredible body of work Issie had created over her life," said Guinness. "Indeed, in many ways, the aucGon would not be merely a sale of clothes; it would be a sale of what was leW of Issie, and the carrion crows would gather and take away her essence forever." 7 AWer her death, her husband Detmar Blow wrote a book about her where the relaGonship between Philip Treacy and Isabella were menGoned "In Philip Treacy she had found not only the creator of her wedding headdress, but her best friend for life and the greatest discovery of her career so far" "They quickly developed an intense and creaGve relaGonship that he later likened to 'having an affair with no sex." Philip Treacy has said that Blow's life should not be looked back upon with sadness. "Nothing about her was tragic. She was triumphant," She had one very unusual quality in the fashion world — she had a heart,” “She was oCen misunderstood as a crazy woman with a hat on. But she wasn’t. She was intelligent, culKvated, interesKng. Her defiance and her unusual perspecKve on everything was an inspiraKon to designers and creaKve people. She had a belief in you as an individual. Whether you were Alexander McQueen, Sophie Dahl, Stella Tennant or me. That belief was incredibly inspiring to young designers.”

QuotaGons from ‘Isabella Blow’ a book by MarGna Rink. Other sources 1/2/7 hPp://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/isabella-‐blow-‐biography 3/4 hPp://nymag.com/news/features/34732/index2.html 5 Helmore (2007-‐09). "Final Blow". Vanity Fair. p. 394 5 "Fashion VicGm". London: women.Gmesonline.co.uk/. 2007-‐08-‐12. Retrieved 2008-‐04-‐29. 6 "A fabulous, fashionable year in review: Death of Isabella Blow". dailycollegian.com. 8 hPp://networkawesome.com/mag/arGcle/isabella-‐blow-‐the-‐fashion-‐of-‐suﬀering/

uﬀering is an integral part of the human condiGon. To quell our naïve, fervent

minds, we like to assign it as a ﬂaw exclusive to the low educaGon, low income, low on the food-‐chain, common man. While material wealth can temporarily ward away the symptoms of fate, ulGmately it is a blind force ready to ravage any soul born in the eyes of the reaper. No man, woman or child is safe and John Donne’s opGmisGc noGon of solidarity proves false because in the end, every man is indeed, an island. The greatest of minds have been perplexed by the inexplicable darkness that surges through the human psyche since Apollo drove the sun into the sky. The list of those tortured by the unending quesGons of existence and the throws of loneliness is as long as the bible with the list of those taking their lives to stop the wave, equally as long: Hunter S Thompson, Kurt Cobain, Diane Arbus, Cleopatra, Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway, Elliot Smith, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf. In many of these cases, the larger the external expression, the more troubled interior life, which leads to the age-‐old quesGon: Is there redempGon from being a tortured arGst? In the case of fashion legend and icon, Isabella Blow, the answer is yes, unGl there was no more. As a woman touted for her experimental and discerning personal style and disGncGve eye for detail and talent, Isabella found more than solace in fashion, she found life. Fashion to Isabella, surpassed any measures of vanity or trends, it was her outlet and art of which she revered to the highest degree. Did depression win in these cases? Maybe, or perhaps both Blow and McQueen sucked their lives dry and knew when tap out. Blow, aWer all had a penchant for spectacles and indulged in one ﬁnal dramaGc bow for her grand exit.8

She loved fashion more than life. But by the end, even fashion couldn’t save her.

The Anatomy of Isabella Blow Alexander Al Kafi