REVIEW: Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!

Isabella Blow in a signature eccentric look

Somerset House - the home of London Fashion week since 2009 - has been synonymous with representing the British fashion scene and its history for as long as anyone can remember hearing its name for the first time. So when a friend told STITCH about the current Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! exhibition, expectations pointed to another "V&A" style fashion display - all couture dresses encased in glass boxes piled into one small room. Nice enough, but fairly linear and lacking a sense of personality. The sort of fashion that you can't really write about, because you can't fairly view it as art. How wrong this was.

The exhibition started as many of them do: a small space giving background details about the artist's life. Isabella Blow's life has been arguably more tragic than most. Born in May 1958 as part of a noble English family (the Delves Broughtons), Isabella was in the public eye almost immediately - with photographs of her as a newborn decorating the pages of newspapers to feed the public's interest in British high society. Growing up, Isabella learnt of loss early on - witnessing the death of her two-year-old brother, John, by drowning in the family swimming pool. At 14, her parents decided to divorce as Isabella's mother left the household and in turn Isabella with a father she did not get along with.

Of course, none of this early life tragedy was represented in the dedicated "early life" area, which instead showed jolly photographs of a young Isabella wearing pretty party dresses and framed copies of some of her work with magazines in her early career as a stylist and editor. Her troubled childhood was only suggested through the use of extremely dim lighting and audio of Isabella's voice from home videos played on small screens - both of which created an ethereal and dark presence of something more sinister than a love of fashion. Printed upon a canvas in a paragraph of Isabella's life are the words: "Her gift was to take the ruins of her class, and the rubble of history to convey the co-ordinates of British fashion and style in the late 20th century."

Isabella Blow was not a designer, but scouted some of the most known British designers to date: Julien McDonald, Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy amongst others. All visionary designers, all who created what was more than just fashion - clothes that hinted to an immense craftmanship and artistic thought process. Clothes that were works of art in their own right.

The designs were sensational. From lobster necklaces to unfinished jagged-hemmed lace dresses and hats shaped as snakes, each piece was entirely unique. Encompassing mesh, feathers, lace, mongolian fur, chainmail it is clear to see that the textile techniques in Isabella's collection are as diverse as the inspiration used to create them.

One of the mannequin rooms

Isabella herself dressed in extravagantly crafted garments, drawing references from the natural world: "From the bottom of the ocean to the highest altitude, the things she wore raised a spectrum of flora and fauna from diverse religions. While fashion often utilises these symbols for decorative effect, Isabella strove for more visceral interpretations."

While the clothes represented some of the very finest of British textiles and craftmanship, the gallery space itself was far more connected to fashion. The upstairs area comprised of a long room with various booths and partitions along each side housing mannequins with outfits on. From the front of the room you could not see what lay inside the partitions and glass-fronted booths, heightening the sense of mystery that was so prevalent in Isabella's life. Different rooms housing clothes collections and fashion photography of models Blow herself had scouted gave the intense feeling that you were, in fact, inside her house - only enhanced by the sound of Isabella's voice eerily played from videos everywhere. As on observer you felt very much part of her life, and in fact part of the fashion and art that surrounded her life.

Fashion photography room - images of models Isabella scouted

Main room - mannequins in partitions

However, one important fact that can in no way be discovered from viewing Isabella's collection (or reading the snippets of her life printed and hung alongside it), is the struggle the visionary fashionista had with depression and tragedy throughout the entirety of her life. From being disinherited by her aristocrat father, being diagnosed as infertile, having ovarian cancer and of course the death of her brother at such a young age; loss and sadness followed Isabella Blow. This lead to a deep depression and numerous suicide attempts - a battle she eventually won in 2007 when she finally took her own life in 2007 by drinking plant fertilizer at a house party. Nowhere in the exhibition was this fact apparent, which could be one of the only criticisms of the event.

Or should it be? Did her battle with depression affect her work? Did it inspire her in any way? We think not.

Naturally Blow's untimely and tragic death received vast media coverage, and perhaps the exhibition was trying to deter attention away from this and back towards the true essence of Isabella Blow's life: her love for fashion, and the part of her that still lives on.

Philip Treacy hats

Walking away from the exhibition, fellow visitors talked about how the exhibition made them feel. "Inspired", "amazed", "beautiful", "intelligent" and "mysterious" were just some of the adjectives used, and never was a negative one uttered.

An inspirational collection housed in a thought-provoking and intriguing gallery space: Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! is well worth visiting if you have a love of fashion and an eye for art. STITCH could not think of a more fitting post to kickstart this blog, a perfect marriage of British art, fashion, textiles and beautiful craftmanship. Highly worth a visit but be quick - the event ends on 2nd March.

9/10

DETAILS:
Daily 10.00am - 18.00pm
Embankment Galleries, South Wing
£12.50, £10 concessions, £6.25 on Mondays
Nearest tubes: Temple, Embankment
More information here
All images credited to Somerset House website.