‘It Takes a Special Kind of Man to Want to Stick It in the Girl in the Philip Treacy Lobster Hat’We came across a copy of Simon Doonan’s upcoming book, Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You, and even though it’s not coming out until April, we are going to tell you a little bit about it now, because it is kind of awesome. In it, Doonan interviews the insanely fabulous and the fabulously insane — everyone from Dita Von Teese to Malcolm Gladwell — about their unique personal styles. The book is “intended as a wake-up call to the women of America to eschew the contemporary porno-chic trend and inject a little classy eccentricity into their fashion choices,” Doonan wrote in the Observer last summer, and it’s more a rumination on what glamour is than the style manual the title implies, but if you use it as such, you might be lucky enough to end up like Amy Fine Collins, who says her fashion choices cause her to get lots of attention from “homeless, gay, black street people.” How fun is that? Just don’t try and take them with you to the Waverly Inn.
company town
Anna Wintour Puts Friends Before Fashion. Really.FINANCE
• Here come the job cuts: Lehman Brothers will shutter its subprime unit, leaving 1,200 employees out of work. [NYT]
• A new study suggests raising taxes on private equity wouldn’t make any difference because Steve Schwarzman and friends would just find new ways to wriggle out of them. After all, taxes are for the little people, right? [Bloomberg]
• Alan Greenspan supposedly told his new bosses at Deutsche that he would have lowered rates by now, though he denies it. [WSJ]
company town
Fashion Industry Turns Out for Isabella Blow’s FuneralFASHION
• Fashion luminaries Sophie Dahl, Alexander McQueen, and André Leon Talley among them turned out in droves for Isabella Blow’s funeral. [WWD]
• Uniqlo is refashioning its temporary Upper West Side location into a kids-only store. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Prince is coming out with a new (pronounceable) fragrance: 3121. [Downtown Darling]
company town
Isabella Blow OverdosedFASHION
• The speculation ends: Isabella Blow died of a drug overdose. [BBC]
• Despite news that Jil Sander’s sales were up, rumors are swirling that the line may be sold. [Fashion Inc./Portfolio]
• Diane von Furstenberg’s new neighbors have welcomed her flagship with open arms. [Downtown Darling]
gossipmonger
RIP, IsabellaThe death of Isabella Blow by either cancer or suicide dominated conversation at the Costume Institute Gala last night. (We’ve got a Costume Institute slideshow and a tribute to Blow by Harriet Mays Powell and Amy Larocca.) Tom Brokaw won’t return to the anchor’s seat at NBC News despite the network’s slip in the ratings. While out shopping, Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson had difficulty getting into Tom Ford’s new store. The widow of Dr. Robert Atkins is embroiled in a legal battle for her late husband’s $100 million trust. Rosie O’Donnell is angling for the host slot on The Price Is Right. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett upgraded their West Village digs. Dan Abrams broke some cuff links, so he had to use dental floss to fasten plastic clips on his shirt. Like every other actor in New York, Cynthia Nixon will appear on an episode of Law & Order.
obit
Isabella Blow, ‘Fashion’s Nutty Aunt,’ Is DeadIsabella Blow — editor, character, inspiration — died in London today, and the news came as a sad shock to the fashion community, particularly those who adore that world’s more eccentric side. Blow, 48, was fashion’s nutty aunt: always dressed perfectly in an outrageous hat, couture duds, painfully high stiletto heels; her lips were always fuchsia, scarlet, aubergine, and richly so. She worked formally in a variety of industry jobs, starting as Anna Wintour’s assistant at Vogue and later serving as style editor of London’s Sunday Times and fashion director of Tatler. She served less formally as muse to and champion of some of today’s greatest talents: Alexander McQueen drew inspiration from Blow’s extravagant, jolie laide persona, and Philip Treacy, London’s top milliner, long designed with Blow in mind. Her personal life was famously rocky: She was painfully disinherited from her father’s estate and was open about the difficulties she and her similarly stylish husband, Detmar, faced when trying to conceive. But, above all else, she loved fashion. She’ll be missed for that, for her flair, her wit, her generosity of spirit, her style. —Harriet Mays Powell and Amy Larocca
Related: In Memory of Isabella Blow [Fashion Week Daily]
