Isabella Blow | Source: The New York Observer

In Part 1 of this exclusive excerpt from the afterword of Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, Lauren Goldstein Crowe examined the widespread allegations that fashion was to blame for the tragic suicide of Isabella Blow. Today, in part 2, she looks at whether these allegations actually point to the fact that the fashion industry suffers from an image problem.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen toiled in an industry notable for its high profile. These days, even magazine stylists are household names thanks to the onslaught of reality TV shows. The deaths of Isabella and Alexander made news because they were recognizable names, not because they were an example of an industry-wide epidemic.

The fashion industry is just that — an industry — but people seem to hold it to a higher standard than they would another industry. Would people complain that not enough farmers came forward to help when one of their own is in trouble? Some people are able to deal with the obvious hypocrisy in the industry, just as some lawyers are able to deal with the hypocrisy in theirs. And those who can’t, leave. David LaChapelle stopped taking fashion photographs four years ago at a time, he said, “when it was raining money.” He thought he’d move into something like farming, but then art galleries began calling him. He hoped that Isabella would be able to make the same shift, but even if she had, a change of career alone would not have saved her.

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Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow | Photo: David LaChapelle for Vanity Fair

The brilliantly eccentric, beautiful and iconic Isabella Blow lived fashion like no other. In the wake of her tragic suicide in 2007, she has inspired a film, a play and two books, including Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, a biography by friend of BoF Lauren Goldstein Crowe that’s to be released early next week. Today, in the first of a two part series, we bring you an exclusive excerpt from the book’s Afterword in which Ms. Goldstein Crowe asks the question: Did fashion kill Isabella Blow?

LONDON, United Kingdom — When I began the research for Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, I was surprised to find that many in the fashion world viewed her suicide not as a tragedy but as a whodunit. Everyone had a theory. Some thought it was the fault of her employer Condé Nast or her husband Detmar for not supporting her enough when she became ill. Some thought it was the fault of Alexander McQueen for not giving her a job when he got posted at Givenchy. Some thought it was Sheikh Majed al-Sabah’s fault for disappointing her on a project he’d retained her to do. Many others blamed her mother, her step-mother or her father. As the daughter of a psychologist, all these theories seemed equally absurd to me.

But as strange as those theories were, the one that came from outside fashion was even stranger. Many members of the press decided another group was to blame: the fashion industry. That’s right, all of us. Here, in a BoF exclusive two-part excerpt from the Afterword of my book, I do the unconscionable. I defend fashion. … Continue Reading

British Vogue iPad App | Source: British Vogue

LONDON, United Kingdom — Later this week, when British Vogue launches its first ever iPad application, everyone across the fashion media landscape is bound to be paying attention. After all, Vogue is the most prestigious fashion media brand in the world, lying at the heart of Condé Nast, the world’s most powerful luxury lifestyle media conglomerate, amidst a market landscape in which age-old media brands like Vogue and others are struggling with the transition to an increasingly digital business model.

Last week, the big news Stateside was that Condé Nast Digital — the digital arm of the media behemoth’s American business — not only lost ownership of Style.com to fellow Condé Nast stablemate Fairchild Fashion Group, but it also lost control of the websites of all the major Condé Nast titles, giving full ownership of these titles to the publishers of the magazines. Positioned as a restructuring “driven by the marketplace,” it’s a dramatic about-face for a company that is beginning to recognise that fully integrated teams of editors and publishers need to oversee all of the digital and offline content and operations in order to offer the seamless experience that consumers and advertisers increasingly expect.

But in the UK, pioneering fashion website Vogue.co.uk — established in 1995, well ahead of its American counterpart which was only set up this past year — remains a separate organisational entity from that of British Vogue the magazine. The new iPad application, on the other hand, was overseen by British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Shulman and spearheaded by Art Director Robin Derrick, working with external partners Spring Studios and Six Creative.

In another BoF Exclusive, we got to see the new British Vogue iPad application first, before anybody else. I met with Ms. Shulman at the historic Vogue House in London’s Hanover Square last week to understand how the application — featuring December 2010 cover star Emma Watson — was developed, its underlying business and content strategy, and how this experiment could spark future digital innovation.

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FashionStake Screenshot | Source: FashionStake

The FashionStake Diaries is a four-part series that gives BoF readers a behind the scenes look at the crucial first months of a crowdfunding fashion startup, seen through the eyes of its founders. Today, in the final diary entry, they reflect on the crucial first weeks following launch: what worked, what did not, lessons learned and plans for the future.

NEW YORK, United States —On the day of “go live” for any startup, planning is quickly overtaken by the reality of operational work. For us, September 1st was a memorable launch day. Months of pre-launch strategising, building, debating and recruiting was replaced with the business of actually running the company: answering customer calls, shipping our first items and managing our online merchandising.

We’d like to share our first month in business with you and, since this is our final post in the FashionStake Diaries, thank you for reading and commenting on our entries.

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Self-Portrait, Nashville, 2005 | Photo: Mary McCartney

LONDON, United Kingdom — This evening at the Michael Hoppen Gallery is the private view of images from Mary McCartney’s first book, From Where I Stand, documenting her more than fifteen years of work as a photographer. Mary seems to have always had the natural instinct to observe and document the people around her, shying away from the spotlight that has shone on her family ever since her father, Sir Paul McCartney, became one of the most popular musicians of all time.

Over time, Mary also began to photograph advertising campaigns for her younger sister, Stella McCartney, which brought Mary closer to the fashion industry and inevitably led to some enviable behind-the-scenes moments, where Mary of course always had her camera at the ready, capturing many living fashion icons on film, including Kate Moss, Daphne Guinness and Bjork.

“I wanted to pick shots that stand alone,” says McCartney of the images she selected for the book. “I like the photographs of other people that inspired me to be a photographer that make me think: Who was that person? Where was this picture taken? What was the feel behind it? What the emotion behind it? Those are the things that intrigue me and drive me as a photographer.”

In advance of tonight’s event, I met with Mary over breakfast to get learn more about the images from her book linked to the fashion industry, each of which seems to have it’s own special story, which we can share exclusively with BoF readers today.

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