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Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow
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Product Description
Product Description
A life of extreme tragedy and remarkable inspiration, the story of Isabella Blow is a dramatic and compelling tale of a courageous icon.
Isabella Blow was the epitome of English eccentricity. A legendary figure in the fashion world, she nurtured and championed the talent of some of fashion’s most recognisable and important figures, all the time hiding her own personal unhappiness and severe depression. The news of her tragic death in 2007, aged 48, shocked the international fashion world.
Her thirty year career in fashion began as Anna Wintour's assistant at American Vogue, and took in stints as fashion director of Tatler and Fashion Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. But she is perhaps best-known for the iconic images of her in Philip Treacy's hats, the first of two designers to launch his career from the basement of Isabella and Detmar Blow's house. With similar passion and verve, Isabella enthusiastically displayed her admiration for young designer Alexander McQueen, buying his entire first collection after he graduated from Central St Martins, in a move that many believe launched his career.
Detmar Blow was engaged to Isabella sixteen days after they first met in 1988, and the couple remained married until her death. In this visually stunning portrait, Detmar and Tom reveal the truth about the intriguing world of Isabella, providing incredible behind-the-scenes insight into the world of fashion and high-society, as well as tracing her ancestry and early childhood, offering a fresh and penetrating look at her domestic life, and celebrating her incredible achievements.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I cannot recommend this highly enough. I read it in one go (a birthday present from my daughter, also, coincidentally, called Issie) as i just couldn't put it down. It is a marvellous insight into the life of a virtually unclassifiable genius. If you ever doubt how closely genius and sadness are so often intertwined then read it. Issie's husband (Detmar Blow) has done her proud. Whilst in some places it is unbearably sad in others it is screamingly funny, sometimes where it just shouldn't be; read the interaction between Issie and her nurses shortly before she died a truly ghastly death and see what I mean.
It is also full of schadenfraude - if you think your family is weird you ain't seen nothing.
It is certainly not high literature but that's not the point: at the end of it you will certainly feel you know the characters (the great and the good and the downright bad) intimately & what a large and varied cast of extraordinary people.
I'm sure Issie's story will be told on screen before too long & what a film it will make.
It is also full of schadenfraude - if you think your family is weird you ain't seen nothing.
It is certainly not high literature but that's not the point: at the end of it you will certainly feel you know the characters (the great and the good and the downright bad) intimately & what a large and varied cast of extraordinary people.
I'm sure Issie's story will be told on screen before too long & what a film it will make.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A poignant but irresistible account of Isabella Blow and her madcap and ultimately tragic life, this story is played out against an exotic background of crumbling houses, aristocratic scandals and the bizarre antics of the fashion elite. Fans of Issie around the world will enjoy Detmar Blow's narrative, which is packed with detail and provides a suitably exotic lens on a truly original character. A master of (sometimes unconscious) absurdity, Detmar chronicles how Issie's blend of raucous good humour and depression slowly tips towards darkness, even as she circles the globe at the centre of a glittering social whirl, all the while tormenting Conde-Nast with her outrageous expense claims. Issie inspired immediate devotion on a 24-year-old Detmar, who suffered a coup-de-foudre upon meeting her at a wedding and practically proposed on the spot, and she became the muse of such luminaries as Phillip Treacy and Alexander McQueen. She is bound to captivate the reader of this excellent book also.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's cleverly written and it is salacious and fun. Her life was pretty amazing. I couldn't put it down. Detmar Blow and Tom Sykes are a brilliant double act: searingly honest and perceptive.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great but sad!
Really enjoyed the book but found it quite sad as she went in to depression. Really enjoyed it tho as her life was very interesting!!!!
Published 3 months ago by karen
Amazing
What a story!
I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. Isabella had the most unbelievable life and if hollywood don't make this into a movie i would be very... Read more
I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. Isabella had the most unbelievable life and if hollywood don't make this into a movie i would be very... Read more
Published 4 months ago by B. Maguire
Amazing - Best book I've read in a long time
Wow - what a story. Captivating from start to finish - Funny in places, tragically sad. A real insight into the awe-inspiring life of a great woman. Well worth the read.
Published 9 months ago by Ms. T. R. Hamer
isabella
Blow by blow was an excellent book to read,i couldnt put it down..from her sad childhood to her full and exciting life to her very sad end.. Read more
Published 9 months ago by nessuella
AMAZING
The book is sensitive and describe with Love the life of an icon. It is really well describe and even same sometimes it has been really intimate it is described really with an... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Louloupop
Real Page Turner
Having been close, in age group, to the generation of the Young British Artists and witnessed the rise in popularity of such designers as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, I... Read more
Published 10 months ago by mykonos
Wish it had been written better
Loved this book, she becomes your friend and I felt so sad when she died. Her husband pays a loving tribute to her just wish it been written better.
Published 11 months ago by laurasw
Facinating story very badly written.
I was intrigued by the story of Issie Blow's life. However, this book is extremely poorly written and overly long - often because so many names had to be dropped. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Rockdoc
Vivid and Rich
The woman's illness was tragic, but the woman herself was anything but. I was delighted that this story of such a compelling figure was told with so much love.
Published 13 months ago by Joanna Wright
Absolutely Amazing
I am absolutely exhausted, after reading about Isabella Blow's life. I found it very difficult to put this book down - very easy to read - and an account of an absolutely... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dylan
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