The other night I was fortunate to enjoy a brief visit to the new Isabella Blow exhibition, which has just opened at Sydney’s Powerhouse museum.

I was there to hear Daphne Guinness talk about her collection – after Isabella’s death, Daphne heard that her wardrobe was to be auctioned and so swooped in and bought the lot, keeping it intact and offering us the chance to see select pieces within a personal context. I’m grateful that she has. A personal wardrobe reveals so much about someone and although Isabella is no longer gracing the social pages and brightening up the world with her bold sartorial choices, we can see peek into her life and hail her support of the more creative aspects of the industry, especially Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy.

Here are the details:
What: Isabella Blow: a Fashionable Life exhibition
When: 14 May–28 Aug 2016 , 10am to 5pm daily
Where: MAAS/Powerhouse, 500 Harris St, Ultimo NSW
Cost: see the MAAS site for ticketing information and timed entry bookings.
More information: see the MAAS site.

This exhibition coincides with the Collette Dinnigan exhibition, so you can overdose on beautiful things.

It’s hard not to compare it with the excellent RMIT (and Powerhouse) 2003 exhibition “When Philip Met Isabella”, which focused more on her hats. Here the fashion really shines, which over-shadows the sensational millinery at times, so I encourage you to take your time and enjoy each aspect separately and then together as a cohesive ensemble.

The curators have done an excellent job at presenting the fashion as if it were inside a spacious but intimate wardrobe, and supplemented with documentary film and photography but the absence of the woman herself is heart-breaking. There’s nothing that we can do about that, but we can mourn her death and appreciate her legacy.

Here are some pics: firstly my wonderful friends Geeves and Rosalie, who were among a large number of fabulously dressed people (I felt very plain and dull in comparison, I can tell you. Thank god for bright pink hair) and the panel with Daphne (poor iphone pic at a distance, apologies) and then lastly the exhibition.

Kellie Hush from Harpers Bazaar, Daphne Guinness and curator Shonagh Marshall.

Now the exhibition: I didn’t have enough time to enjoy it, so just ran around madly snapping away and hopping not to collide with similarly excited people but I do hope to get back to Sydney and see it at a more languid pace before it closes in August.

Thank you Isabella, Daphne, Shonagh, Roger Leong and everyone who helped bring this collection to our shores. We love you and miss you Isabella xxx