ISABELLA BLOW: LARGER THAN LIFE

There are figures in fashion whose influence cannot be contained by garments, titles, or seasons. Their presence goes far beyond clothes. Isabella Blow was one of them. She did not simply wear fashion. She inhabited it. Through her unmistakable silhouette, her fearless imagination, and her unwavering belief in originality, she became a living symbol of creative freedom at a time when individuality was not always welcomed.

Mario Testino first encountered Isabella socially in London, but it was through work that her presence clarified itself. He recalls that understanding her required time, proximity, and observation. That understanding began when he was commissioned by American Vogue to shoot its opening pages. Isabella, then working as Anna Wintour’s assistant, was present on set, initially at the margins.

“I first met Isabella socially in London,” Testino has said, “but it was through work that I really began to understand her.”

What revealed itself was not performance but gravity. She watched closely. She absorbed. And then, gradually, she asserted herself.

“That was when I truly began to observe her and understand her presence.”

Isabella’s presence was built on contradiction. She was deeply insecure, yet visually fearless. Her entrances were never quiet, but they were never careless either. Testino has often returned to that duality.

“She was very insecure, yet extremely loud in her style,” Testino remembers. “Those two qualities worked together.”

Fashion became her armour. Hats, clothes, and theatrical gestures were not costumes, but shields. They allowed her to control the way she moved through the world, to protect herself while commanding attention at the same time.“In a way, she hid behind her hats and her clothes,” Testino says, “but she always made a major entrance. She was simply larger than life.”

In an industry driven by trends, Isabella remained radically personal. She dressed for no one but herself and championed designers long before the wider world was ready for them.

“She thrived on discovering new talent, wearing their clothes, and standing firmly behind what she believed in.”

What made Isabella extraordinary was that her contribution did not fit neatly into a defined role. She was not simply a stylist or editor. She was a nurturer of creativity at a time when that instinct was not yet formalised as a profession. “Discovering and nurturing talent wasn’t really considered a ‘job’ at the time,” Testino reflects, “but it was what she did instinctively, and brilliantly.” Her eye for originality came from deep exposure, instinct, and taste...something Testino describes as impossible to teach. “Taste is something you either have or you don’t,” he says. “She had it instinctively.”

For Testino, there was also a personal recognition. Coming from Peru, he understood what it meant to exist outside accepted norms.“I recognised something in Isabella,” he says. “The courage to be yourself and go against other people’s opinions.”

By the time their paths crossed professionally, Testino had largely stopped expressing fashion through his own appearance. Isabella never did. Her ideas lived through her body, her clothes, and her presence.

“Her ideas lived on her own persona.” Looking at fashion today, Testino feels something essential has faded.“There is a lack of eccentricity and courage now,” he observes. “People want to belong, so they imitate rather than invent.” And when he looks back at images of Isabella, what surfaces is not nostalgia, but absence.

“When I look at images of Isabella,” he says, “I feel that something is missing. Women like her, full of ideas, style, and electricity, have almost disappeared.”

Through these photographs, Isabella Blow remains exactly as she was in life: unapologetic, singular, and unforgettable. Not defined by fashion, but by presence. Larger than image. Larger than life.