R.I.P. Isabella, We Salute You

I just found out, off Vogue UK, that Isabella Blow died of ovarian cancer this Sunday at the age of forty-eight. The news is startling, to say the least of it. To those who don't know, she was fashion director at Tatler magazine and possibly the greatest fashion talent scout of modern times: among the people she discovered/gave a break to as rookies were Alexander McQueen, Sophie Dahl, Stella Tennant and Hussein Chalayan, and she was possibly most famous for her signature look which consisted of a hat and red lipstick. I don't think I've ever seen a photograph of her bareheaded- she wore little, whimsical hats all through the 90s (Philip Treacy was one of her discoveries too- the hats she favoured were mostly by him), before the fashion gods decided headgear was a good way to go for a look, and kept working right till the end. And I honestly have nothing to say, other than that I am going to dig out the coolest-looking approximation of a hat anywhere in my possession, and take it off in tribute to her. Failing that, I'll wear a turban. And if there is such a place as heaven, she's probably up there trying to make her halo into a hat shape.
It's hard to realise that so many of the figures we love to talk about and look at, our icons really, are in fact mortal. Including Carine Roitfeld, Anna Piaggi et al. Slightly odd in a world where everyone is or seems beautiful and indestructible.