Alexander McQueen; Isabella Blow
1 portrait by David LaChapelle
© David LaChapelle Courtesy Fred Torres Collaborations
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Alexander McQueen; Isabella Blow
by David LaChapelle
C-type colour print, 1996
28 7/8 in. x 39 7/8 in. (734 mm x 1012 mm)
Purchased with help from Daphne Guinness and The Marrakech Gallery Foundation, 2010
Primary Collection
NPG P1403
Sittersback to top
- Isabella Blow (Isabella Delves Broughton) (1958-2007), Fashion journalist and editor. Sitter in 3 portraits.
- Alexander McQueen (1969-2010), Fashion designer. Sitter in 4 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This double portrait of Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow was published in the March 1997 ‘Swinging London’ edition of Vanity Fair. McQueen was a fashion designer famed for his conceptually daring approach. Blow, a fashion stylist, was a great champion of McQueen, buying his graduate collection ‘Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims’ in 1992. For this photograph, taken in Hedingham Castle, Essex, the pair dressed in clothes designed by McQueen, and Blow’s hat is by milliner Philip Treacy. LaChapelle subverts gender norms and notions of chivalry in this image, which also acts as a theatrical record of the sitters’ friendship.
Linked publicationsback to top
- 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 118 Read entry
David LaChapelle (b.1963) began his career at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. His striking photographs of celebrated figures in fashion, music and politics have been exhibited at museums and galleries internationally. This double portrait of Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) and Isabella Blow (1958-2007) was published in the March 1997 ‘Swinging London’ edition of Vanity Fair. McQueen was a fashion designer famed for his conceptually daring approach. Blow, a fashion stylist, was a great champion of McQueen, buying his graduate collection ‘Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims’ in 1992. For this photograph, taken at Hedingham Castle, Essex, the pair dressed in clothes designed by McQueen, and Blow’s hat is by milliner Philip Treacy. LaChapelle subverts gender norms and notions of chivalry in this image, which also acts as a theatrical record of the sitters’ playful friendship.
- 100 Fashion Icons, p. 50 Read entry
This double portrait of Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow was published in the March 1997 'Swinging London' edition of Vanity Fair, under the title 'The Provocateurs'. McQueen was a fashion designer famed for his conceptually daring approach. Blow, a fashion stylist, was a great champion of McQueen, buying his graduate collection 'Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims' in 1992. For this photograph, taken at Hedingham Castle, Essex, the pair dressed in clothes designed by McQueen, while Blow's hat is by milliner Philip Treacy. Photographer David LaChapelle (b.1963), who began his career at Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, subverts gender norms and notions of chivalry in this image. This photograph also acts as a theatrical record of the sitters' playful friendship.
- Ribeiro, Aileen; Blackman, Cally, A Portrait of Fashion: Six Centuries of Dress at the National Portrait Gallery, 2015, p. 261
- Tinker, Christopher, Speak its Name! - Quotations by and about Gay Men and Women, 2016, p. 253
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Speak Its Name! (22 November 2016 - 6 August 2017)
- Contemporary Portraits (1 March 2012 - 22 April 2012)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1996back to top
Current affairs
The largest ever IRA bomb is detonated in Manchester causing the destruction of many buildings and over 200 injuries. Nobody died in the incident because a warning was given and the area evacuated. After the bombing much of Manchester was rebuild and in 1998 it won a successful bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.Prince Charles and Princess Diana finalise their divorce after four years of separation.
Art and science
The Spice Girls enjoy massive popular success with their first single Wannabe going straight to Number 1. The group are remembered as much for their sassy, outspoken 'girl power' attitude and their continuing subsequent celebrity as for their music.Danny Boyle tells the story of a group of Edinburgh heroin addicts in his critically acclaimed film version of Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting.
International
The First Chechnya War breaks out between Chechnya and Russia when Russian forces invade the country in support of Chechnyan opposition to the government. The invasion went badly with strong Chechnyan resistance and dissent in the Russian command. However, a truce was finally established after Russia seized the capital Grozny. More than 46,000 people died as a result of the conflict.Tell us more back to top
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