Famed for discovering and launching British fashion talents, most notably Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy and Julian Macdonald, the aristocracy born Isabella began her career in the 1980s and rose to the heights of Fashion Director for Tatler. During her illustrious career, Isabella was at the forefront of British fashion for thirty years and amassed an impressive and unique wardrobe of couture. Now owned by Daphne Guiness, Isabella’s wardrobe has become one of the most important fashion collections in existence and is showcased in this exhibition.
Nigel Coates admires the content of the Somerset House exhibition but questions the architecture which contains it. As Marc Jacobs says, museum shows about fashion never really work. ‘They kill the clothes dead when what they need is to be worn, to give them life and movement.’ In Isabella Blow’s case this […]
Clothes she acquired from it are installed here on mannequins arranged statue-like on tall plinths in a colonnaded chapel, sadly more Mussolini than Hawksmoor, and no match for Christchurch...The architectural additions continue with walls of safety plastic and mirrored louvres...Wouldn’t it have been possible for us, the visitors, to mix more equivocally with the mannequins?... architecture should be able to evoke movement rather than contain it.
Isabella Blow: The ultimate designer's muse. By Nigel Coates. The Architectural Review.
By the museum
Born into the rarefied world of British aristocracy, Isabella’s thirty year career began in the early 80s as Anna Wintour’s assistant at US Vogue. On her return to London in 1986 she worked at Tatler followed by British Vogue. In 1997 she became the Fashion Director of the Sunday Times Style after which she returned to Tatler as Fashion Director. Driven by a passion for creativity, Isabella is credited for having nurtured and inspired numerous artists and designers.
The exhibition showcases over a hundred pieces from her incredibly rich collection, one of the most important private collections of late 20th Century/early 21st Century British fashion design, now owned by Daphne Guinness. This includes garments from the many designer talents she discovered and launched, such as Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy, Hussein Chalayan and Julien Macdonald amongst others.
Isabella is also known for discovering models Sophie Dahl and Stella Tennant, and for her collaborations with major photographers such as Steven Meisel, David LaChapelle and Sean Ellis, which pushed the boundaries of convention in her increasingly provocative fashion spreads and establishing herself as a legendary figure within the international fashion and contemporary art worlds.
‘Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!’ is the spectacular exhibition running at Somerset House in London, in partnership with the Isabella Blow Foundation and Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.
Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!.
Venue.- Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA. U.K.
Dates.- until 2 March 2013.
Curated by Alistair O’Neill with Shonagh Marshall and designed by award-winning architectural firm Carmody Groarke, with installations by celebrated set designer Shona Heath, the exhibition will display thematically the breadth of Isabella’s collection, a life lived through clothes.
