The Style, Drama, and Death of Isabella Blow
Three years later, in 1992, she headed to the prestigious Central Saint Martins to watch the fashion and design school's final year show. Unable to find a seat, she occupied the floor. It was from there that she saw the show by a young aspiring Lee Alexander McQueen , who was showcasing his Jack the Ripper collection, inspired by the famous serial killer. Isabella not only bought everything for sale but also made sure to call every relevant contact in the industry, spreading the word about the emerging name.
With Treacy more than established in the market, it was now McQueen's turn to fill the vacant position in the house of the editor and her husband. It was she who suggested launching the label under the name Alexander McQueen, dropping the Lee. Other designers, including Julien Macdonald, relied on her impetus. And her eye extended to models. At Vogue UK, Isabella came across Sophie Dahl crying on a street corner and wasted no time in recruiting her for the magazine's next photo shoot. Stella Tennant was the next discovery. Without a professional book, the aspiring model handed Blow some passport photos. In December 1993, Steven Meisel photographed her for the editorial "Anglo-Saxon Attitude," the epitome of cool Britannia , an editorial piece that reached £80,000, still one of the most expensive jobs at Vogue UK. There was the heavy black eyeliner, the McQueen outfit, the Wolford fishnets, and the Vivienne Westwood platforms. Thus took off the career of yet another aristocrat and muse of the '90s: Stella.
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Wintour assures that no one had Issie's vision, and that her recommendations, always spot-on, were worth their weight in gold. A phone call telling Anna to follow this, go there, or meet this or that person was followed to the letter. But little by little, the network of protégés Isabella cultivated didn't yield the expected results. The publisher, who mobilized well-connected friends, photographers, and other industry heavyweights to support her beloved darlings , ended up with modest success compared to the triumph of the once-unknowns. The setback was especially severe with Alexander McQueen. In 1996, Isabella had strongly influenced LVMH's decision to hire the designer to head the French luxury fashion house Givenchy in 1996. For the designer, the check was a hefty sum, but for his godmother, not so much. Unlike other designers, who often entrust their muses with official positions, McQueen never gave her a job. Nevertheless, Isabella was in his first collection presented in Paris in January 1997. And he dedicated himself to repairing his image when the specialized press devastated him with criticism.
It was also she who, in 1997, suggested to Tom Ford, then at the helm of Gucci, that the group expand its acquisition portfolio by investing in the McQueen brand. Despite the millions involved, once again, intermediary Isabella Blow was left out of the loop. "She was upset that Alexander McQueen didn't take her on when he sold his brand to Gucci. As soon as the business took off, she fell by the wayside. Everyone else had contracts, and she got a free dress, " her friend Daphne Guinness would later lament.
In 1988, at the age of 31, Isabella met 24-year-old Detmar Blow at a wedding in Salisbury Cathedral. Sixteen days after meeting, they were engaged. Recently, for Vogue, Detmar opened the doors of the Edwardian mansion that he still owns and guided viewers through his scrapbook. "She liked my coat, I liked her hat." Thus began a story marked more by creative complicity than by emotional or even sexual partnership. "Here's a portrait of her, always protected by hats, and by fashion," notes Detmar, who claims Issie discovered hats through her mother as a child. "When she put one on, she never felt so happy."
With the lawyer and art dealer, Isabella developed a bond that extended to the dark side of both families. Detmar's father, Jonathan Blow, committed suicide when Detmar was just 14, by drinking Paraquat, a highly toxic herbicide. With a gothic vibe, it was at Hilles House in Gloucestershire that Isabella and her husband established the center of all eccentricity, hosting legendary parties. They hosted Tim Burton and Brian Ferry and sheltered Isabella's protégés. In the small curio cabinet in one of the living rooms, Issie's MAC lipstick and a cigarette case remain. "She was a maximalist, not casual; she liked people to make an effort." In the north wing, a portrait of the late Charles I (born on the same day as Isabella) and a mannequin in a chainmail suit that was occasionally worn by the residents themselves, prove that Blow's wardrobe was not the only source of irreverence.
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In fact, when they married at Gloucester Cathedral, Isabella walked down the aisle wearing a medieval-inspired purple velvet Nadia Lavalle gown topped with hand-embroidered trompe l'oeil collars and a headpiece that was created by then-unknown designer Philip Treacy.
"Tracksuit bottoms for lunch, dinner, or really any time except for sports are completely unacceptable," chided Blow, who never gave up her Manolo Blahniks, even though she could wear one of each pair. Remarks like, "I just can't look at you without lipstick," or "I love breasts. They're so old-fashioned," went down in history.
Alexander McQueen liked to stay in the Primavera room, the host's parents' bedroom, where the Bern-Jones William Morris tapestry, inspired by Boticelli, shines on the wall. There's a common tale that claims the designer stole the piece, but in fact, he took a smaller one with a portrait.
To meet the hosts' expectations, guests were invited to raid her closet full of McQueen, Alaïa, and Hussein Chalayan creations. "She was absolutely convinced that if everyone looked glamorous, they would have more fun," writer Plum Sykes, who dressed in a Rifat Ozbek minidress made entirely of fishnet for a country dinner, told Vanity Fair.
Alongside her husband, she starred in fashion productions that highlighted her favorites and unconventional fashion choices. But not everything was rosy, literally, in this marriage. The couple separated in 2004. Detmar began an affair with Stephanie Theobald, editor of Harper's Bazaar. Isabella, for her part, fell in love with a Venetian man, a relationship that ended badly, with a financial dispute.
McQueen described her as a cross between "a Billingsgate fishmonger and Lucrezia Borgia." Treacy asserted that "there's nothing tragic about her, only triumphant." She both led the fashion choices printed in magazines and was at the center of productions, photographed and interviewed for countless publications. But over time, depression set in. The glamour of the social circuit contrasted with her private dilemmas: her inability to have children, her eight unsuccessful IVF treatments, her bipolar disorder, and her ovarian cancer diagnosis, the final straw.
In her later years, her professional path became more erratic. She began producing a series of books entitled Arabian Beauty , focusing on fashion in the Middle East, saw an opportunity for renewal in India, and even envisioned herself as a fashion reporter for Al Jazeera. The jumble of outlandish plans, with the bill tipped to Condé Nast, contributed to the breakdown of ties. A poor manager of her wealth, Isabella feared ending her days like the Marquise Casati, the Italian woman who lived on a garden bench and spent the little money she earned buying gardenias. Decline was ready to set in with all due fanfare.
In March 2006, after Milan Fashion Week, she began telling friends that she intended to kill herself , a desire she shared even with the fashion press, attributed to her peculiar dark sense of humor. The pleas were repeated, confused with hyperbole that no one really took seriously, especially coming from such a character. "She wouldn't shut up about it," recalled Hamish Bowles, the Vogue editor who had spent countless hours of happiness and eccentricity at Hilles's side. Mental health was rarely discussed, and friends joked about the threats and outbursts, believing they were harmless: "Someone finally said to her, 'Look, Issie, if you really want to kill yourself, there's a pool back there, go in there and drown yourself!' "
