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.

… Continue Reading

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

Ralph Lauren in his office circa 1978 | Source: Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren to Sell Portion of Polo Shares (WSJ)
“Ralph Lauren, chairman and chief executive of Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., is selling approximately a quarter of his holdings in the company he founded, a move that could raise up to $955 million at Monday’s closing price.”

Rykiel Targets America (Vogue)
“French fashion label Sonia Rykiel has announced plans to target the US market as it schedules debut showroom presentations in New York this week.”

Burberry boss Angela Ahrendts sews up £6m paypacket (Guardian)
“Angela Ahrendts, the boss of fashion group Burberry, banked more than £6m last year as the company managed to steer a successful course through the recession to report record profits.”

Guinness Buys Blow Collection (The Moment)
“Daphne Guinness, the art and fashion collector, has bought the entire Isabella Blow wardrobe, including seminal pieces by the late designer Alexander McQueen, which was to have been sold by Christie’s in the fall.”

Finding Supermodels in Rural Brazil (NYT)
“A model scout searches for the next Gisele Bündchen in a region known for genetic cocktails prized by the beauty industry.”

Iodice at Sao Paulo Fashion Week | Source: SPFW

Brazil’s prosperity bursts forth on catwalk (AFP)
“Brazil kicked off Latin America’s premier fashion event, Sao Paulo Fashion Week, Wednesday, with parades showcasing its economic prosperity and optimism.”

S&P removes upscale Barney’s from CreditWatch (Business Week)
“Standard & Poor’s on Thursday affirmed its corporate credit rating on Barney’s New York and removed it from CreditWatch…The rating agency also lowered its issue-level rating to ‘CCC-’ from ‘CCC’ and revised its recovery rating to ’5′ from ’3′, saying the company’s value has diminished over the past few years.”

Model students rewarded at Graduate fashion week gala (Guardian)
“Rebecca Thomson, a 22-year-old graduate of the Manchester School of Art, claimed top prize in the gala show at Graduate fashion week last night for a collection that mixed hand-pleated details with jogging bottoms – a look the designer dubbed ‘casual couture’”

Why fashion on screen lacks style (Independent)
“As a film on Isabella Blow is planned, Geoffrey Macnab argues that haute couture and cinema are more likely to clash than complement.”

Designer from Nepal who cracked New York (AFP)
“The young Nepalese fashion designer Prabal Gurung has been courted by the world’s top style magazines and won plaudits for his creations from some of Hollywood’s best-known actresses.But it was not until Michelle Obama attended a function wearing a dress he designed that his parents, who live in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, finally believed he had made it.”

CIT: Behind the Business – Mark Ecko
I enjoyed this series of video interviews with Mark Ecko, the graffiti artist-turned fashion entrepreneur,  who  founded  *ecko unltd which is now a multi-brand fashion and apparel company with combined annual revenues of $1.2b. Mark also shares nuggets of  insight at eckolog, a blog on running a creative business.

New York Times: Coloured undies
This is an article which shows how finding and developing an underserved, ignored or altogether empty market niche can be one of the best ways to build fashion and apparel brands. Novelty underwear, in bright patterns and colours, from the likes of Ginch Gonch, Aussie Bum and American Apparel, is a rapidly growing market segment, says the article by David Colman. These zany briefs are capturing share in the $1.1b mens knit underwear market, possibly as high as 50%, in a market, that up until now, has always been reserved for tighty-whiteys.

International Herald Tribune: Isabella Blow, Fashion Loses an Inventive Icon
The accolades have been pouring in (and the rumour mill has been working overtime) since the death of Isabella Blow, one of the fashion world’s true eccentrics, earlier this week. While there were many obituaries written, I found Suzy Menkes’ tribute the most honest and accurate. That Isabella Blow was, in and of herself,  a "work of art", was the highest of compliments from fashion’s reigning Queen of the critics.

Portfolio: Fashion Inc.
There’s some interesting fashion and business commentary, with the occasional gossipy diversion, at Fashion Inc, one of the new blogs that has emerged with the launch of Portfolio magazine, which is focused on various parts of the business world. Lauren Crowe, a former writer for DNR and one of my favourites, Time Style and Design, is the blogger behind Fashion Inc.  The latest news from Lauren is that Jil Sander may be on the block again, following Change Capital Partners’ investment only 2 years ago.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times.