hellomagazine.com

Royalty and celebs gather to pay tribute to style icon Isabella Blow

SEND TO A FRIEND

19 SEPTEMBER 2007

Four months after they came together in Gloucester Cathedral to say farewell to style icon and muse Isabella Blow, famous faces from the fashion world were reunited on Tuesday to celebrate her life.

Over 750 guests, including friends and admirers from Australia, China, Brazil and the US, gathered at the memorial service in the Guards Chapel, near Buckingham Palace, to remember Isabella, who passed away in May.

And, as at her funeral service, many members of the congregation donned extravagant headwear in a tribute to the 48-year-old fashionista's passion for hats. Among them were Naomi Campbell, Joan Collins and Lord Lichfield's model daughter, Lady Eloise Anson.

Other famous faces paying their respects were Stella McCartney, singer Brian Ferry and the Duchess of York, who was accompanied by her daughter Princess Beatrice. Flame-haired model Lily Cole was also on hand, having come straight from the Paul Smith catwalk.

Speaking at the service Isabella's husband Detmar Blow called his late wife "a ray of sunshine", while milliner to the stars Philip Treacy - whose career she launched - said: "She came from the establishment, but she was punk at heart." The first address was given by Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, to whom Isabella once served as an assistant.