“I Did My Usual Thing Waved My Magic Wand”

In 1996 it appeared Blow was at her peak in the industry. She had just fallen upon her third protégé at the Royal College of Art, Julien Macdonald. Isabella was invited to the Royal College’s annual graduate show where, much like in previous years relating to McQueen she spied something special in Macdonald’s knitwear designs. She later took him under her ever growing wing, appointing him to Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel to design knitwear and at Alexander McQueen as a freelance artist. Macdonald was later appointed as McQueen’s successor at the Paris Haute Couture house of Givenchy and was later named British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2001. Julien is a very controversial artist, his extensive use of fur, including one memorable incident in which he was flour-bombed. He further stated his label would collapse if he did not use it as the fur provides the majority of his revenue, he later released a controversial statement declaring “people who don’t like fur can piss off, I love fur, it is a beautiful natural product from animals”. Macdonald was later accused of making British Airways flight attendant uniforms appear as “sex objects” rather than glamorous when Isabella contracted an agreement between the designer and the airline. His designs merely encourage a confident, seductive, high class woman and when criticised for his work he appears unaffected by the assumptions.

The image above shows Blow at one of Macdonalds catwalk shows.