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Over the last couple of days, Racked has brought you the he-said-she-said very public media smackdown over two rival Isabella Blow biographies—one written by her husband Detmar Blow with journalist Tom Sykes and the other authored by fashion journalist Lauren Goldstein Crowe. It was a full-on she said, then he said, then she said, again, throwdown. Today we bring you the closing arguments in the case of the dueling biographies.
This morning, we received a new email from Lauren Goldstein Crowe, subject line: "A Letter to Jezebel," in reference to Jezebel.com's recap of the argument. We're reprinting Goldstein Crowe's email in its entirety to avoid any contextual misinterpretations.
Lauren Goldstein Crowe: "How strange of you to recall, step-by-step, the grisly tale between myself and Tom Sykes ("Competing Isabella Blow Biographers Attack Each Other," November, 11, 2010) but when it comes to my completely coherent clarification to decide to "act like some voice of morality" and point out that "a trouble woman died," and accuse us both of pandering for publicity's sake. In fact the moral move, journalistically speaking, would have been to mention that my comment about my party, ("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,") was intended only for a few friends and made little sense without the accompanying clip on the party from the Daily Mail, which was primarily about my relationship with Jude Law. (Below).
I spent well over a year writing a book about this "troubled woman," one which I am proud to say that many of the people closest to her—including those who came to my party—found a moving, fitting and entertaining tribute, but see no reason that her tragic death should stop me from correcting the item that ran on Racked, or indeed on Jezebel.
My email never attacked Detmar or Tom, merely pointed out some facts that might help journalist friends in selecting photos, should they decide to cover the event. I have never said that my book is better than Detmar's, only that it is different—as is evidenced by their very titles. For the people who want to read about her marriage to Detmar and the complicated relationship they both had with their families, then Blow by Blow is the book for you. If, however, one is more interested in the behind-the-scene stories of her, well, of her life in fashion and why she became the creative visionary she was, then my book, Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion, will probably be more satisfying. In actuality this is thanks to extensive interviews with many people who couldn't attend my party—namely designers like Julien MacDonald and Jeremy Scott with whom she was close, photographers with whom she travelled and worked for long periods of time, like David LaChapelle and Donald MacPherson and many talented others including Katie Grand, Nadja Swarovski and Daphne Guinness."
This morning, Racked also received another email from Tom Sykes, who co-authored Blow by Blow with Isabella's bereaved husband Detmar Blow—subject line: "my last word."
There was no message in the body of the email, only a link to a story Sykes wrote for today's edition of the UK's Daily Telegraph entitled "Have a flutter on goose for Christmas". The story is about how Sykes and his family are raising two geese this season, with the intention to slaughter them for Christmas dinner. What are the geese's names? Here's an excerpt from the story:
Readers blessed with sound memories may recall that last year in these pages we raised Gilbert and Geraldine, the Daily Telegraph turkeys for the yuletide table. This year, we’re giving goose a go, and we’ll be updating you on our progress in these pages between now and Christmas. So allow me to introduce my handsome new pals, Lauren the goose and Ray the gander (he used to be a gosling).The end. Good round of public sparring everyone, well done.
· Dueling Isabella Blow biographies pitted against each other [Racked]
· Tom Sykes, co-author of Blow by Blow, responds to critics [Racked]
· Isabella Blow biographer Lauren Goldstein Crowe responds to author and Isabella Blow biographer Tom Sykes [Racked]
· Competing Isabella Blow biographers attack each other [Jezebel]
· Have a flutter on goose for Christmas [Telegraph]
· All Isabella Blow coverage [Racked]