"Fashion is a vampiric thing, it's the hoover on your brain. That's why I wear the hats, to keep everyone away from me," the late British fashion editor Isabella Blow said. "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."
Blow was a seemingly tortured soul who suffered from a difficult case of depression (she once said, "I'm fighting depression and I can't beat it") that eventually led her to take her own life in 2007. Yet despite a life plagued by tragedy, Blow has become recognized today as one of the world's most influential fashion editors -- she's credited with discovering models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl, as well as the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen -- and one of the most eccentric street style stars. She had a penchant for extravagent pieces and wild accessories, leading her to serve as a muse (and a close friend) to McQueen and milliner Philip Treacy.
Following Blow's untimely death, her longtime friend Daphne Guinness purchased her entire wardrobe, saving it from going up for auction. Beginning November 20, The Somerset House in London, in partnership with Guinness, The Isabella Blow Foundation, and Central Saint Martins, is exhibiting Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!, a retrospective that includes over 100 pieces from the style siren's wardrobe and a scattering of magazine spreads of her work. “This exhibition is, to me, a bittersweet event," Guiness said. "Isabella Blow made our world more vivid, trailing colour with every pace she took. It is a sorrier place for her absence. When I visited her beloved clothes in a storage room in South Kensington, it seemed quite clear the collection would be of immense value to a great many people. I do believe that in choosing to exhibit them we’ve done the right thing – and that it is what she would have wanted. I am doing this in memory of a dear friend, in the hope that her legacy may continue to aid and inspire generations of designers to come."
Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! is on display at The Somerset House through March 2, 2014.
Courtesy Somerset House
In 2002, photographer Diego Uchitel shot Blow in a decadent, Maleficent-style headpiece and strapless black dress.
Courtesy Somerset House
David LaChapelle captures the late Alexander McQueen with his close friend and muse Isabella Blow in the 1996 portrait Burning Down The House.
No stranger to wild fashion accessories, Blow sported a silver, sequined lobster necklace at the American Embassy in Paris in 1998.
In 1996, Blow poses for Juergen Teller wearing a black lace crop-top and set of deer antlers.
Milliner Philip Treacy poses with Blow, his muse, for Vanity Fair in 2003.
Model Alexia Wight poses in Blow's Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2003 coat dress with a feathered collar.
Courtesy Somerset House
Wight wears a shocking pink, sheer burka with tulle. Blow originally wore the burka to the Christian Dior Haute Couture show in 2003, and Lady Gaga recently wore the piece in Philip Treacy's 2012 runway show.
Even out of focus, Alexia Wight looks sharp in Blow's Manolo Blahnik heels and an Alexander McQueen jacket.
Courtesy Somerset House
Model Kirsi Pyrhonen rocks the ensemble Blow wore to the launch of Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes in 2004. The outfit features a sculptured mesh hat from Philip Treacy's Fall 1999 collection, a peach feather and silk bolero from Alexander McQueen's Spring 2004 line, and a black bustier dress made of plastic polyamide.
Courtesy Somerset House
Recreated on model Xiao Wen Ju, Blow's outfit features a Philip Treacy hat comprised of pop-art mouths, paper, silk, and wire, and a cream silk dress.
Courtesy Somerset House
Model Xiao Wen Ju recreates one of Blow's iconic looks, sporting a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes, a red silk dress with blue appliquéd leather detailing from Tristan Webber, and a hat by Philip Treacy and Simon Periton.
Courtesy Somerset House
