ISABELLA BLOW: A FASHIONABLE LIFE
A Fashionable Life, is currently at the Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts and Science in Sydney Australia. On exhibit through August 28, 2016, it is a testament to British editor, muse, style icon Isabella “Issie” Blow, one of the fashion world’s most unique talented visionaries.
A colorful rare bird that emanated an exotic uniqueness never to be compared or forgotten. Eccentric would be one of the words to best describe Issie. The iconic British fashion editor led a colorful life, while displaying an even more ravishing wardrobe. Issie Blow’s lineage of the fashion world was with US Vogue as Anna Wintour’s assistant. Following with Tatler, British Vogue, and the Sunday Times, among others. Nurturing the careers of many designers, photographers and models from the 1980s, Issie was hugely praised in the fashion world until her passing by suicide in 2007.
The mentor and muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, is also credited with discovering genius fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Not only a muse and a mentor, but also a nurturing mother to her great talents. Blow, when asked why she often wore headgear famously said “Fashion is a vampiric thing, it’s the hoover on your brain.” “That’s why I wear hats. Keeps people away, I only want to be kissed by the people I love”. Her editorial work and her personal collection of clothes, photographs and illustrations leave behind a legacy of one of fashion’s most talented creatives, Blow’s personal approach to fashion as well as her professional work.
In 2010, Heiress and fashion muse, dear friend of Issie Blow, The Honourable Daphne Guinness purchased Blow’s wardrobe and established the Isabella Blow Foundation – http://www.isabellablowfoundation.com/. “It was partly, speaking frankly, because of how I feel about the fashion industry. It’s also about what happened to her as a human being, as a creative, and as someone who nurtured students. I don’t see many Isabellas around. She was really one of a kind. She was a mother figure and she brought out the best in people. Now it’s all about next collections and big corporations. It’s not about love, it’s not about the art, it’s about commerce. Sure, we have to be practical and everybody needs to make money, but I wanted to nurture her memory the way she nurtured those around her,” Guinness said.
By Elle Gomez