It’s just been reported that Isabella Blow, former fashion director of Tatler magazine and fashion editor of London’s Sunday Times, one of the most beloved fashion icons of our generation, died in Gloucester this morning. According to a representative, the cause of death was cancer.

Blow, famous for her tireless devotion to outre dressing, was one of the greatest champions of young British fashion designers in recent memory — in fact, it can be said that without her tireless support, now-luminaries like John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and milliner Phillip Treacy (whose hats she wore everywhere, everyday) would not ever have reached such heights of success.

With her passing, the fashion world suffers the loss of a great visionary — she was one of the industry’s greatest personalities and, certainly, one of its most beloved.

Hilary Alexander remembers Isabella Blow here.