Catching glances and obscuring views in Milan at Burberry’s a/w 2006 show life stories She lived for fashion but, as two new biographies reveal, her flamboyance hid dark secrets. Mandy Appleyard tells the tragic story of a style legend

h e b u s y Lo n d o n r e s t a u r a n t f e ll s i l e n t a s a waifish figure stalked through the dining T room in skyscraper heels. She was sporting her trademark blood-red lipstick, a suit cinched tightly at the waist and, most remarkably, a huge pair of Alexander McQueen veiled antlers on her head. ‘How will you eat dinner in that ?’ her ­dining companion asked. To which she bluntly ­replied: ‘That is of no concern to me whatsoever.’ The woman was fashion legend Isabella Blow, and the remark was typical of someone for whom fashion was life itself. She is perhaps best known as the talent spotter and mentor to some of the indus- try’s most recognisable figures, from to and . But behind her Stand and deliver: outrageous outfits, Blow was tormented by deep in- Blow, captured securities, exacerbated by her inability to have a by famed fashion child with her art dealer husband, Detmar Blow. photographer The heartbreak drove her into a deep depression Donald McPherson and she twice attempted suicide. When she was di- in May 2003 agnosed with ovarian cancer at the age {continued}

april 2010 MARIE CLAIRE <#R#> Life Stories

Tragically, both Blow and designer Alexander McQueen – here photographed by David LaChapelle in 1997 – were to take their own lives The Blows attend the opening of debts – the same grandfather who later a Warhol committed suicide. Blow was four when exhibition in January 2006 she witnessed the drowning of her two- year-old brother in a swimming pool. ‘I remember the smell of the honeysuckle, of 47, it was too much for her to bear and and him stretched out on the lawn,’ she she made another desperate bid to end ­recalled. ‘My mother went upstairs to put her life by drinking the weedkiller her lipstick on. That might have something In another eclectic creation, Paraquat. Tragically, this time she suc- to do with my obsession with lipstick.’ captured by Lord ceeded: Blow died, aged 48, on 7 May 2007. In her stormy relationship with her par- Snowdon in 2002 Three years on, Blow’s life is celebrated ents, the seeds of Blow’s approach to life in two new upcoming biographies. Lauren were sown, says Crowe. ‘She became inven- Goldstein Crowe, the author of Isabella tive to cope with the dysfunction in her They were a way of making a statement, as Blow: A Life in Fashion, recalls Blow’s past.’ Exuberant fashion was something well as hiding her face from the world. So ­extraordinariness. ‘I once sat next to her at she could hide behind, and it set her apart. it was fitting that an ostrich-feather hat London Fashion Week,’ she tells Marie After school, Blow did odd jobs before brought her together with Detmar Blow. Claire. ‘She didn’t know moving to New York in ‘I saw this lovely person who was extraor- me, but she said, “I’ve just ‘To understand 1979 to study art. But al- dinarily bird-like, with feathers in her hat left my husband and I ready she was becoming and a little veil attached to it,’ he recalls, can’t get along without a Issy , to understand insecure about her looks. smiling. ‘I said, “I like your hat,” and she man. I need to find a the darkness, you ‘It pains me to say so, but said, “I like your coat.” So the coat met the man.”’ That vulnerability I’m ugly,’ she once said. hat, and we fell in love!’ was perhaps rooted in a must understand Yet it was her unique style, That meeting in 1988 sparked a roman- complex and sometimes her childhood’ which grew from these in- tic whirlwind, with only 16 days passing tragic upbringing. As her securities, that attracted between their first hello and their decision husband of 18 years, Detmar Blow, co- some of the most powerful figures in Amer- to marry. It was during this period that author of a ­second biography, reveals: ican fashion and got her the job of assistant Blow’s career as a stylist also flourished. ‘To understand Issy and to understand to a 32-year-old , then fash- In 1989, she discovered millinery student the darkness, you have to understand ion director of US Vogue. ‘I loved coming to Philip Treacy, who was to become her her childhood.’ the office. I never knew what to expect,’ protégé, ­after she admired a green felt hat Born Isabella Delves Broughton in Wintour recalls. ‘One day, she’d be a maha- cut like the jaws of a crocodile. Three years 1958, she was the eldest of three sisters raja, the next a punk, and then a corporate later, Blow’s attention was caught by and one brother, and grew up in a small secretary in a little suit and gloves.’ another young designer called Alexander house in Cheshire beside the ancestral But the perched on her distinctive McQueen who, tragically, committed sui- land her grandfather sold to pay gambling short, black bob were Blow’s signature. cide last month. She bought {continued}

<#L#> MARIE CLAIRE april 2010 Life Stories

Hats off… Isabella Blow models six of Philip Treacy’s most OTT creations…

Sporting one of her trademark hats with its The Lobster creator, Philip Worn at Julien Treacy, in 2002 Macdonald’s 1998 LFW show

Blow by blow Born The halo 19 November 1958 Designed in Died 7 May 2007 2004 using Married Nicholas Swarovski Taylor (1981-1983), crystals Detmar Blow (1989-2007) Career Fashion director at Fashion icons: and Sunday Times Blow and McQueen Style; trend spotter; at the launch party for MAC’s ‘Blow’ fashion muse. lipstick in 2005 The papal brocade Worn to MAC’s his postgraduate collection in its entirety legs and feet so badly injured she could no ‘High Tea’ party for £5,000; paying him in ­monthly install- longer wear heels. The suffering continued in January 2005 ments of £100. Her acute eye for spotting when Blow was diagnosed with ovarian fashion talent is what marked Blow cancer in 2006. It was the final straw and, out, and is epitomised by perhaps her in May 2007, she took her own life. The effusive most famous discovery, Sophie Dahl, Her funeral was attended by hundreds feather hat whom she allegedly found crying on of mourners from the worlds of art and Using maximum a London street corner. fashion, including Sophie Dahl, Philip plumage for a In 1997, Blow was made fashion director Treacy, Alexander McQueen, Rupert Ever- no-holds-barred statement for a Sunday newspaper, using her front- ett and Tracey Emin. Her coffin was topped

row spot at the shows to parade her own with white roses – and one of her signature ex style. She remained demanding and vola- hats. ‘Losing Issy has been ghastly,’ says tile in her work, her angry outbursts a sign Detmar, ‘but she taught me to live life to the that life was taking a darker turn. Insecure full. She would be proud that her life was in her career and distressed by her looks, significant to so many people.’ The snake Blow’s thoughts turned to suicide. ‘When Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Worn to the Krug people say, “How are you?” you say, “Fab- Blow (£20, HarperCollins),­ by Summer Party, ulous.” But this wasn’t the case with her,’ Detmar Blow and Tom Sykes, and June 2005 explains Treacy. ‘She’d say, “Suicidal.”’ Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, But it was her failure to get pregnant that by Lauren Goldstein Crowe ultimately destroyed her. Despite numer- (price to be confirmed, St Martin’s ous attempts at IVF, Blow was unable to Press) are out later this year. R L F I , Getty I mages, Contour, catwalking.com, ress, conceive, and she and Detmar struggled to cope with their sadness. Blow tried to See Blow’s most iconic hats kill herself twice: once with a drugs over- in our retrospective gallery, at The orange slice dose and again in 2005 by jumping from a marieclaire.co.uk/isabellablow Shot for Vanity Fair’s

London bridge, which left her with broken May 2003 issue P Camera by P hotographs

<#L#> MARIE CLAIRE april 2010