| Isabella Blow |
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The muse of hat designer Philip Treacy , she is also credited with discovering models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl . Daughter of Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton , she was born in London in 1958 . Blow recalls as a child her fondest memory "''trying on my mothers pink hat ... there's a photo of me in it as a child and I look as happy as anything to be wearing it.''" She studied A-level s at Heathfield School, after which she enrolled at secretarial college, then taking odd jobs. Blow moved to New York , USA , in 1979 to study ''Ancient Chinese Art '' at Columbia University , sharing a flat with Catherine Oxenburg aka Amanda from '' Dynasty ''. A year later she moved to Texas and worked for Guy Laroche . In 1981, she married Nicholas Taylor (later divorced) and was introduced and became friends with then fashion director of the US edition of Vogue , Anna Wintour. She was hired initially as Wintour's assistant, It was not long before she was assisting Andre Leon Talley , now US Vogue's editor at large. In the late 1980s , she befriended Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat , aside from the avant-garde lifestyle, she was a serious talent herself. In 1986, she returned to London and worked for Michael Roberts , then Fashion Director of Tatler and the Sunday Times ''Style'' magazine. In 1988, she married Detmar Blow. Philip Treacy designed her wedding head dress and a famous fashion allegiance was struck. Blow established Treacy in her mother-in-law's basement flat, where he worked on his collections for two years. In 1993, she worked with the photographer Steven Meisel producing the Babes in London shoot featuring Plum Sykes , Bella Freud and Honor Fraser . Blow has a natural sense of style and has a good feeling for future directions. She purchased Alexander McQueen 's entire graduate collection. Spotting Sophie Dahl while she argued with her mother, describing her as "''a blow up doll with brains''", she launched the model's career. Today she is the Fashion Director of Tatler and consults for DuPont Lycra , Lacoste and Swarovski . In 2002, she became the subject of an exhibiton entitled ''When Philip met Isabella'', featuring sketches and photographs of her wearing his hat designs. There is also a book of the same title. In the winter of 2005 the exhibition went to Dublin, Ireland, and was so wildly successful that it was extended into April 2006. Also in 2005 she starred in a project by artist Matthieu Laurette commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects 2005 entitled "WHAT DO THEY WEAR AT FRIEZE ART FAIR?" consisting of daily guided tours of Frieze Art Fair led by international fashion experts Peter Saville , Isabella Blow and Kira Joliffe & Bay Garnett . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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