Isabella Blow

November 15, 2010
In her biography of the eccentric, inimitable high-fashion personality Isabella Blow, Crowe (The Towering World of Jimmy Choo, 2009) compiles countless interviews with friends of the late, well-loved stylist. Although she was unmistakably talented and constantly surrounded by friends who were drawn to her warmth and intoxicating humor, Blow suffered from extreme depression and self-consciousness and killed herself, after many previous attempts, in 2007. Responsible for launching to stardom many designers who just as easily could have gone unnoticed, namely milliner Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen (himself a victim of suicide in 2010), Isabella comically likened her career in fashion to that of a swine hunting for truffles. Working at Vogue, Tatler, and the Sunday Times, Blow did not simply ride the waves of fashion but seemed to orchestrate its tides. Although the work is at times disorienting, with Blows story being told by so many voices, the multifaceted approach leaves a strong impression of the tragic character who, Crowe argues, perhaps knew no other way to burn out but brightly and quickly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)