Blow moved to New York City in 1979 to study
Ancient Chinese Art at
Columbia University and shared a
flat with the actress
Catherine Oxenberg. A year later, she left the Art History programme at Columbia, moved to
Texas, and worked for
Guy Laroche. In 1981 she married her first husband, Nicholas Taylor (whom she divorced in 1983), and was introduced to the fashion director of the US edition of
Vogue,
Anna Wintour. Blow was hired initially as Wintour's assistant, but it was not long before she was assisting
André Leon Talley. While working in New York, she befriended
Andy Warhol and
Jean-Michel Basquiat. She returned to London in 1986 and worked for
Michael Roberts, then the fashion director of
Tatler and
The Sunday Times Style magazine. During this period she was romantically linked to editor Tim Willis. In 1989, Blow married her second husband, barrister and art dealer Detmar Hamilton Blow, a grandson of the early 20th-century society architect
Detmar Blow, in
Gloucester Cathedral.
Philip Treacy designed the bride's wedding headdress and a now-famous fashion relationship was forged. Realizing Treacy's talent, Blow established Treacy in her London flat, where he worked on his collections. She soon began wearing Treacy's hats, making them a signature part of her flamboyant style. In a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, Blow declared that she wore extravagant hats for a practical reason: [...] to keep everyone away from me. They say, Oh, can I kiss you? I say, No, thank you very much. That's why I've worn the hat. Goodbye. I don't want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love. Blow was the fashion director of
Tatler and consulted for
DuPont Lycra,
Lacoste, and
Swarovski. She became the subject of an exhibition in 2002 entitled
When Philip met Isabella, which featured sketches and photographs of her wearing Treacy's hat designs. In 2004 Blow had an acting cameo playing a character called Antonia Cook in the film
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. She starred in 2005 in a project by artist
Matthieu Laurette, commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects 2005 and entitled "What Do They Wear at Frieze Art Fair?" It consisted of daily guided tours of
Frieze Art Fair led by Blow and fellow international fashion experts
Peter Saville, Kira Joliffe, and Bay Garnett. Shortly before her death, Blow was the creative director and stylist of a series of books for an Arabic beauty magazine,
Alef; the books were being produced by Kuwaiti fashion entrepreneur
Sheikh Majed al-Sabah. ==Illness==