Blow By Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow

The news of Isabella Blow’s suicide in 2007 shocked the international fashion world. A true patron of couture, she is credited with having discovered and fostered the careers of famed designers Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy, among others, becoming their great muse, friend, and confidante. She also discovered models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl, yet it was images of Issie in these designers’ creations that became instantly iconic. Isabella’s aristocratic ancestry was as colorful as her manner of dress, her childhood was adventurous and, at times, tragic, and her thirty-year career in fashion was legendary.

Written with compassion, adoration, and deep insight by Detmar Blow, her devoted husband of eighteen years, in collaboration with writer Tom Sykes. Blow by Blow is, at once, an outrageous behind-the-scenes romp through the worlds of fashion and high society, and a poignantly candid view of the tortured inner life of a rare and conflicted spirit.