Vrinda Gopinath / Indian Express

Anjuna, Goa, January 3 : Isabella Blow, it is said, is never properly dressed without a hat, and she has been hatless since Christmas.

In an unfortunate turn of events, the famous and quirky icon of fashion’s jet set, Blow, has been recuperating in a small hospital in north Goa after another bout of depressive behaviour. It’s not her first attempt at injuring herself, she has spent eight months in a London hospital earlier this year, but the good news is: Blow is on her way to quick recovery, and will be back at home in London, early next week.

Blow: Another bout of depression

Doctors attending to her marvel at her new enthusiasm and determination to plunge into her work again. Says her therapist, “She is now devoting all her time to her project in Kuwait which she has been planning for a couple of years. She is progressing quite alright and is 90 per cent well.”

Blow discovered and promoted some of international fashion’s biggest stars today. Her proteges include international milliner Philip Tracey, British designers Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, apart from putting Brit Babes Stella Tenant, Honor Fraser and Sophie Dahl on the fashion map. She has famously called her style, “pornographic chic.”

Indian fashionistas were introduced to Blow a couple of months ago at the Fashion Week in Delhi when designers, models and the fashion media swooned every time Blow raised an eyebrow or nodded appreciatively on the front row of a show. But the hysteria soon ebbed when Blow made her final judgement, “When we talk of Indian fashion, I see a whole lot of potato sacks. It has a long way to go.”

It’s no surprise the 49-year-old Queen of Outlandishness has had a triumphal run so far - Blow began a starry career in New York in the ‘80s, she had enrolled in Columbia University to study Ancient Chinese art, beginning with fashion’s biggest icon today, US Vogue’s Anna Wintour (the movie, Devil Wears Prada, was based on Wintour). She worked as her assistant, and was soon befriending the likes of Andy Warhol in NY. After she returned to London, she rose to become Style Editor of The Sunday Times and later, Tatler.

Isabella Blow woefully represents all of English eccentricity -  famously creative but ruinous financially. Her passionate endorsement of Tracey and Mc Queen have not seen the tosh rolling in. She not only introduced the two designers to each other, who went ahead to have a lucrative association together, it was Blow who introduced Mc Queen to Gucci when she told the Italian design house’s former head, Tom Ford, to buy him.

Her Indian X’mas in Goa may have not been cheery but she is pulling herself together again. It is a proud doctor who claims, “We have achieved a lot in the last 15 days, Isabelle is even walking well (an accident had made it difficult), she is going through medication and psychotherapy where she is made to talk her heart out. She will be as good as new soon. We are very happy.”