André Leon Talley, who recently passed at the age of 73, was a legendary and towering figure in fashion. A trailblazer for 40-plus years in an industry that saw little diversity coming from the segregated South and working in an industry that was made exclusively for the “haves and have nots.” Andre’s career trajectory is an example of hard work, dedication, and tenacity. His life has been described as full of opulence and luxury, but he was also defined by his hard work and generosity.
André Leon Talley grew up in Durham, N.C., raised by his maternal grandmother. She worked cleaning dormitories at Duke University. Growing up in the South and attending church is where André developed his fondness for clothing and style. He said, “We sometimes had hard times. But the church was fundamental, so everything was invested in beautiful clothes. So the church was where we decked out and put on our finest clothes.”
Talley attended North Carolina Central University, graduated with a French literature degree, and got a master’s in French at Brown. In college, André read and studied the pages of Vogue magazine, dreaming of one day working in the field of fashion. André poured into the glossy pages, which occasionally featured Black models like Pat Cleveland and Naomi Sims and beautiful visuals which represented a different world and were an escape from reality.
André’s legendary career started with an unpaid internship with Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. André went on to work with Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, and Ebony Magazine before becoming the fashion news director at Vogue in 1983 and eventually becoming a creative director and editor, making him one of the most powerful black men in fashion.
Trying to confine all of Talley’s contributions in fashion, over his almost 50-year career, is challenging to put into this one article. He grew up in the segregated South and encountered his share of racism in the fashion industry. He was often the only Black person in the front row of fashion shows.
Even though he experienced overt racism and discrimination, Talley worked hard, was well informed, well educated, and blazed a trail in an industry that was not welcoming – but they couldn’t deny him. He defied the odds and pushed the boundaries of fashion traditions to open the door for other Black creatives, designers, models, and journalists who had new perspectives. His most fantastic photoshoot was with Vanity Fair magazine. He starred model Naomi Campbell as Scarlett O’Hara and featured other black designers as the aristocrats and white designers (who included John Galliano and Manolo Blahnik) as their servants.
André was a fashion storyteller and a connoisseur of fashion. He was a beautiful writer, his words were poetic and made you envision and feel his emotion. He was an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion. The loss of André is taking with it a vast amount of institutional knowledge. Whoopi Goldberg described Andre “he was so many things he wasn’t supposed to be.”
André took the time to nurture and mentor the next generation of designers and creatives and was very generous with his gifts. He championed and mentored young designers of color offering advice, his time, with honesty.
I have been a beneficiary of Andre’s generosity as well. In 2012 André graced me with his presence at Emerge! The fashion show takes place during New York Fashion Week, a runway show I created to showcase emerging designers. André accepted the Fashion Innovator Award during the show and asked his good friend legendary designer Diane von Furstenberg to attend Emerge! to present the award to him. His presence at Emerge! brought our featured designers visibility and awareness that they would not have gotten before. Recently, I interviewed him during my interview series “Emerge! Design Talk” which features notables in fashion and he also made a special appearance during the Emerge! 10th Anniversary Fashion Show. I am forever grateful to André for his support of me and my mission to highlight emerging designers.
Talley’s Best-Dressed List
In one of the final chapters of Talley’s memoir, “The Chiffon Trenches“, he gives his ‘best-dressed list.”
Women…
Anna Wintour: “only when she is dressed in Chanel haute couture.”
Annette de la Renta: Wife of Oscar de la Renta. Her uniform was a simple Chanel dress.
Bianca Jagger: She had decades of great style.
Countess Jacqueline de Ribes: The best of French style.
Diana Vreeland: Eclectic style.
Rihanna: Her look is fierce. She took her style and turned it into a global fashion empire.
Michelle Obama: She mixed high-low as no other fashion lady could.
Diana Ross: She was inspirational and aspirational with chiffon, sequins, and mountains of Afro Hair.
Barbara Streisand: She has the breathtaking ability to wear outrageously elegant things.
Tamron Hall: Her look is always beautiful. The best-dressed woman on Daytime Television.
Men:
Dr. Cornel West: He always wears a black suit, white shirt, and black tie.
His look is distinctive.
Oscar de la Renta: What style!
Marc Jacobs: He dares to wear elegant suits with women’s handbags by Chanel or Hermès envelopes.
Dr. Calvin O. Butts III: He is an icon of respectability and correctness.
Thelonious Monk: The only man to wear gaudy outrageous rings.
Will Smith: Swag with the same impact as Cary Grant.
His Lifetime Achievement Award went to designer Ralph Lauren, the man who created his very own version of “American Style.”
