Blow by Blow, Signed by Detmar Blow
[Signed by Detmar Blow] Blow, Detmar. Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow. First Edition. 2010. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is signed “Detmar Blow.” on the title page. On that same page, it is also inscribed, “To Sabrina, with my very best wishes, Detmar Blow.” Co-written by Tom Sykes.
Those who believe that The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly is a stand-in for Vogue’s Anna Wintour will be shocked to learn that one of Wintour’s first “Emilys” was the fashion icon, Isabella Blow, as destructive as she was creative (and there is a strong case to be made that these two traits were symbiotic). Rather than fetch someone a Starbucks coffee, Blow would have been just as likely to have frivolously flown it in via helicopter and charged it to the Condé Nast expense account. Years later, when Blow’s life had spun tragically out of control, Wintour even schlepped to a remote part of London to visit Issie in a mental hospital. But that is getting ahead of the story. This personal memoir by Isabella’s husband delves into the dark elements of Issie’s aristocratic upbringing that, shades of Patrick Melrose, show how little advantage money and class privilege sometimes bring … at least, as to happiness. It’s a fascinating and honest account of the dramatic highs and lows of Issie’s life, and the betrayals by her (bitterly divorced) parents and (much later) by her protégé Alexander McQueen that hastened her tragic decline.
“Issie got the job as one of Anna’s two assistants. It was the break she needed. Ever after, Issie would say, ‘I owe everything to Anna.’”
--Detmar Blow