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 A major exhibition opens in London Wednesday to celebrate the life
and style of Blow, who is best known for discovering British
designers Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy when they were young
students and promoting them as they rose to international acclaim.
Eccentric, flamboyant and witty, Blow was editor at Tatler and other
magazines, muse to designers and one of the most influential
personalities in fashion before she committed suicide by drinking
weed-killer in 2007. She was 48.
"Isabella Blow was a champion of creative talent. So much that we
know today would never have happened without her vision, and her
support of British fashion and creativity was unique," said Louise
Wilson, a professor at Central Saint Martins college who taught
McQueen and many other designers.
The show at Somerset House features Blow's personal collection of
more than 100 rare designer items, including many of Treacy's most
dramatic hats and some of McQueen's earliest designs.
Blow met McQueen at his graduate fashion show in 1992, and famously
bought up his entire collection. She commissioned headdresses for
her wedding from Treacy when he was still a student. She wore their
designs everywhere, and used her network to promote both men.
Four years later McQueen dedicated a collection — his first to
receive international acclaim — in tribute to her. In the same year,
she also styled a successful show for Treacy.
Treacy went on to work for Chanel and became Britain's best-known
milliner, while McQueen achieved further fame and success — until
he, like Blow, lost his battle with depression and took his own life
in 2010.
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 The exhibition traced Blow's early life and her
aristocratic background, which curator Alistair O'Neill said was key
to her appeal and success.
"She traded on her family history and her
Britishness," he said. "She was this attractive, artistic figure.
She had no money, but lots of stories and lots of style."
Blow's life was full of glamorous anecdotes — she was said to have
cleaned Vogue editor Anna Wintour's desk with Perrier and Chanel
No.5 perfume when she worked as her assistant — but for years she
struggled with depression and other personal problems.
Blow used to say that her bizarre headgear was used as armor to
protect herself and hide her face from the world, and indeed many of
the hats featured at the show obscure most of the wearer's face.
"Gaga also identified with that," O'Neill said. "But Detmar Blow
(Isabella's husband) said that while Lady Gaga wore her stage
costumes, Isabella never took hers off."
"Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!" opens Wednesday and runs until
March 2.
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Somerset House:
http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/
visual-arts/isabella-blow-fashion-galore
[Associated
Press; SYLVIA HUI]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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