Читать книгу Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow - Tom Sykes - Страница 21

Issie was the ultimate Voguette. As Anna Wintour’s new assistant, she created something of a stir when she started at American Vogue, the most influential fashion publication in the world. Or rather, her outfits did.

The pages of American Vogue at the time rarely featured daring, avant-garde designers of the kind Issie loved and would go on to champion, and the dress code at the office was similarly conservative. The palette was predominantly grey and beige and the unofficial ‘house designer’ was Calvin Klein. While the American Vogue uniform was undoubtedly chic, it rocked no boats.

Then Issie came along. Anna says:

People would stop by my office just so they could see what Issie was wearing that day. One morning she might be in full East Village punk regalia like she’d just stepped out of the Mudd Club, which she may well have done, the next dressed like a Maharaja, dripping in jewels and sari silks.

On one occasion, Issie wore an elaborate sari creation that unravelled as she exited the Condé Nast building on Madison Avenue. She didn’t notice – or didn’t care – and hopped into a cab, only to get the fabric caught in the door. The last anyone saw of Issie that day was a silk sari streaming in the tail wind from a yellow cab heading uptown.

Anna explains: ‘There has never been a shortage of glamorous, stylish, well-connected young women working for Vogue. Issie undoubtedly brought all those qualities to the magazine too, but in her own utterly idiosyncratic way. And while her eccentricity and flamboyance made her stand out amongst all of the elegantly and quietly attired girls, she also needed them to be as discreetly chic as they were. Their presence only served to amplify Issie’s every look, her every gesture.’

Anna was surprised to discover that, despite the extravagant outfits, Issie could actually type, thanks to the Ox and Cow, but from the outset it was clear that Issie had no time for anything humdrum, banal or mundane – to the extent that cleaning her desk every night was done with a bottle of mineral water and a few squirts of Chanel No. 5.

She’d often tie her hair up in a floral headband, like a fifties American housewife, while undertaking this task. It was all part of making her job an event. Says Anna: