Two competing biographies of Isabella Blow, widely regarded as one of the most brilliant and creative forces in fashion, hit shelves this week. There’s Blow by Blow, Detmar Blow’s biography of his late wife coauthored by Tom Sykes, and there’s Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion by veteran fashion writer Lauren Goldstein Crowe. Crowe’s is being optioned for a movie. Detmar’s bio is the required reading for our first Fashionista book club (virtual) meeting.

There’s a lot of bad blood between the two books. At the New York launch party for Blow by Blow, Detmar told WWD that he had “no interest” in Crowe’s book. Following the London launch party for Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, Crowe wrote to tell Racked.com: “Personally I thought it more interesting that Detmar’s sister and cousin were there as were both Isabella’s sisters and her step-mother and a variety of cousins. Also Philip Treacy and Lucy Ferry who didn’t attend Detmar’s launch. But hey, that’s the world we live in.”

And now Tom Sykes, coauthor of Blow by Blow (and brother of Plum and Lucy) is fighting back. He sent us a long, angry email to comment on what he called the “outrageous slur that has been made today on our book by Ms Crowe on the fashion blog racked.com.”

Here it is in full (we’ve bolded the best bits):

‘Hey, that’s the world we live in’? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Lauren Golsdstein Crowe’s outrageous insinuation seems to be that somehow her book is the ‘approved version’ because Issie’s sisters came to her book launch. This cannot go unchallenged. Lavinia, Isabella’s beloved youngest sister, came to the launch of our book in London, and was an honored guest at the dinner afterwards at Annabels. Freddie, Lavinia’s son and one of Issie’s cousins, was also at our launch in New York. And, for God’s sake, DETMAR WAS ISSIE’S HUSBAND FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS!!!!

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