Books & Film: Death Becomes Her.

"Death becomes her." I never really grasped the meaning of this expression until now. Three years after her death, the late Isabella Blow, stylist and muse to Alexander McQueen and Phillip Treacy, is the subject of no fewer than three books, one play and a feature film. I also seem to recall that a documentary film about her life was in development at some point but sadly, I haven't heard much about that since.

I find this frenzy surrounding Blow interesting only because while undoubtedly a fascinating figure, during her life time she was only really well known within the British fashion industry and perhaps known of by a handful of avid readers of British Vogue and Tattler. Her contribution to British fashion is undeniable and her death has left a gaping whole in the front seat of fashion shows that no celebrity could ever fill but it leads me to wonder: Why was she not the subject of all this attention while still alive?

Classic literature is filled with tragic heroines who take their own lives. Death it would seem has a way of romanticising a person's life in a way that mere living does not. Would she be the subject of so much attention had she found a way to tame her chronic depression and got on with the business of living? Or, is it that in our warped world, it takes a tragic, irrevocable act like suicide to get us to sit up and take note of a person's worth? Perhaps if we're lucky one of the many projects about Blow's life will offer a bit of insight on this issue. Hope springs eternal.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[pulchra]

Isabella the Great

[Helene]

"The Deification of Daphne" - Sounds like a good title for either a book or a concept store. Shall I get the ball rolling with the Style Gods or would you like to do the honors? My only critique of Ms. Guinness is her poor taste in men ... I'm just not that into the sneering, obnoxious philosopher/rape apologist that has won her heart ...

Helene

[John Agee Paris]

I was going to mention Anna Piaggi, but you beat me to it! And of course, you already know that I think Daphne should be deified.

[Helene]

"She was tuned to a channel that other mere mortals could only have hoped to be tuned to. She represented romance and eccentricity in a modern culture that seems to have patience for neither."

Hear! Hear! Well said John Agee Paris. This leaves really only Daphne Guinness and Anna Piaggi to fly the flag for genuine originality. How sad is that?

Helene

[John Agee Paris]

You never know what you have until it's gone, as the saying goes. She had a sensibility that Middle America (or Middle Britain, or Middle Anywhere for that matter) would never have "gotten". It was too esoteric, too forward. Which is exactly why she was so fabulous. She was tuned to a channel that other mere mortals could only have hoped to be tuned to. She represented romance and eccentricity in a modern culture that seems to have patience for neither. She would easily have been at home in Waugh's "Vile Bodies" or Diana Manners' "Coterie" right before World War I. She was her own work of art, and the world of fashion and style is immeasurably poorer for her absence.

[Make Do Style]

Nostalgia and time allows these projects to blossom. She did work for Anna Wintour at American Vogue for a while and she was bonkers in a fascinating way but her demise hastened her depression which I think is the most interesting angle.