Respect and Reflect: Magazine Editor and International Style Icon Isabella Blow

Photos: Isabella Blow

Photos: Isabella Blow

Blurb from YAMS:

Isabella Blow > Lady Gaga

Isabella Blow’s Bio:

Isabella Blow was an English magazine editor and international style icon. The muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, she is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl as well as the fashion designer Alexander McQueen.

Blow moved to New York City in 1979 to study Ancient Chinese Art at Columbia University and shared a flat with the actress Catherine Oxenberg. A year later, she left the Art History programme at Columbia, moved to Texas, and worked for Guy Laroche. In 1981, she married her first husband, Nicholas Taylor (whom she divorced in 1983), and was introduced to the fashion director of the U.S. edition of Vogue, Anna Wintour. She was hired initially as Wintour’s assistant, but it was not long before she was assisting Andre Leon Talley, now U.S. Vogue’s editor-at-large. While working in New York, she befriended Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 1986, Blow returned to London and worked for Michael Roberts, then the fashion director of Tatler and the Sunday Times Style magazine.

In 1989, Blow married her second husband, art dealer Detmar Blow, in Gloucester Cathedral; he is a grandson (and namesake) of the early 20th-century society architect Detmar Blow. Philip Treacy designed the bride’s wedding headdress and a now-famous fashion relationship was forged. Realizing Treacy’s talent, Blow established Treacy in her London flat, where he worked on his collections. She soon began wearing Treacy’s hats, making them a signature part of her flamboyant style. In a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, Blow declared that she wore extravagant hats for a practical reason:

“…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. I want to be kissed by the people I love.”

In 1993, Blow worked with the photographer Steven Meisel producing the Babes in London shoot featuring Plum Sykes, Bella Freud, and Honor Fraser. Blow had a natural sense of style and a good feeling for future fashion directions. She discovered Alexander McQueen and purchased his entire graduate collection for ₤5,000, paying it off in weekly ₤100 installments. Spotting Sophie Dahl, Blow described Dahl as “a blow up doll with brains”, and launched the model’s career.

Isabella Blow arrives as a guest at the Turner Prize, December 2005.

Blow was the fashion director of Tatler and consulted for DuPont Lycra, Lacoste, and Swarovski. In 2002, she became the subject of an exhibition entitled When Philip met Isabella, featuring sketches and photographs of her wearing Treacy’s hat designs.

In 2005, Blow starred in a project by artist Matthieu Laurette, commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects 2005 and entitled “What Do They Wear at Frieze Art Fair?” It consisted of daily guided tours of Frieze Art Fair led by Blow and fellow international fashion experts Peter Saville, Kira Joliffe, and Bay Garnett.

Shortly before her death, she was the creative director and stylist of a series of books about beauty in the Arab world; the books were being produced by Kuwaiti fashion entrepreneur Sheikh Majed al-Sabah. Blow was dismissed from the project for unknown reasons and attempted suicide. For more about blow, kindly click here.

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