Larger Than Life: Remembering André Leon Talley

Words: Ponahalo Mojapelo | Images: Getty

The world was flooded with sadness when news of André Leon Talley’s untimely passing broke.The widely-revered fashion journalist, creative director, and editor-at-large took a final bow on 18 January 2022 at the age of 73.

Praises and memories continue to pour into the media, describing him as “fashion’s elegant giant", “a one-of-a-kind presence” and an inspiration to black and queer writers everywhere. Talley was highly erudite and passionate about fashion, consistently championing important works in the industry and bringing them to life with his vivacious character and colourful diction.

“No one really needs another handbag or another sweater or another coat. It has to be emotional and André could always make the reader feel that dream and feel that emotion,” said long-time colleague and friend, Anna Wintour (The Gospel According to Andre, 2018).

Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour (L) and Andre Leon Talley sit in the front row at the Carolina Herrera Fall 2007 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in the Tent in Bryant Park February 5, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images For IMG)

Despite becoming one of the most important voices in the luxury fashion industry, Talley’s life and career weren’t free of hardship or discrimination. He was born on 16 October 1948 in North Carolina - a state that was then a part of the Jim Crow South. Born under segregation and harsh racist policy, it was growing up with his astute and loving grandmother that allowed him to explore possibilities of luxury and a refined lifestyle in his future. His fondest memories of his upbringing include his grandmother’s vast, fancy hat collection, his smartly-dressed relatives who were incredible storytellers, and the fashions sported at his local church - the first place in his life that resembled the runway.

André singled out Vogue magazine as his initial escape from his political and discouraging reality. Often bullied for how he’d dress and for the colour of his skin, his local library became his portal and where he’d spend the bulk of his adolescent years. He grew into an avid reader, not only of Vogue but anything fashion-related that he could get his hands on from maidens’ sewing handbooks to fashion literature. The book he’s said to have had a massive impact on his affinity to luxury fashion was The Fashionable Savages (1965) by John Fairchild, an almost all-encompassing artifact on fashion history at the time.

“Mr. Fairchild described a world that was larger than life. He described the world of Paris couture. He described the venerable houses of Givenchy and Balenciaga. He described Dior. He described the people who made fashion,” said Talley.

The whimsical and almost fairytale descriptions of the non-fiction fashion world sent Talley down the rabbit hole of wonderment that would transform him into the charismatic fashion stalwart we know and love today.

Drawn to the Parisian couture fantasy, he studied French Literature at North Carolina Central University. Seeking a more physical escape from the othering he was subjected to, he did remarkably well in school and was awarded a scholarship to Ivy League university, Brown. In 1970, he left his family for the small state of Rhode Island to pursue a Masters in French Literature where his bombastic self-expression was welcomed and nurtured. Upon befriending Reese Evins, who studied across the road from Brown at the Rhode Island School of Design, Talley would be introduced to “a freedom he had never experienced in his life.”

He would graduate in 1972, and because he was finally in close proximity to New York City, the opportunities to which he had access were immeasurable.

The year is 1974, and Diana Vreeland, the most impactful Vogue Magazine editor - one might argue - of all time, is appointing volunteers for her costume exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After obtaining this apprenticeship, Talley’s closeness with Vreeland strongly resembled that which he shared with his grandmother. Both women loved him deeply and taught him about the psychology of luxury; they shared an intentionality about exuberant style and statement pieces.

Diana Vreeland at home on July 15, 1992 in New York, New York. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Getty Images)

Thoroughly impressed with Talley’s knowledge of the work, Mrs. Vreeland connected him with a journalism job with Interview Magazine which was headed by the king of pop art himself, Andrew (Andy) Warhol. This exposed 26-year-old André to a constellation of global stars, designers, and celebrities who were gleefully turning to his pages for first-hand reviews on fashion’s biggest moments. He went on to write for Women’s Wear Daily, which saw him on the first flight out to France to head up their Parisian division.

He returned to the U.S. having established a high status and a keen relationship with some of the world’s biggest names in fashion. His interview style was one-of-a-kind: he was warm and effusive, but also had a deep knowledge of fashion history unlike anyone else. He went on to write for the prolific W Magazine until 1980.

The ‘80s kicked off with his widely-loved writing stint with the New York Times and several other bespoke, coffee table book fashion publications. In 1983, Talley became a fashion news director and five years later, the first-ever African American male creative director of a publication that birthed his love for style when he was still a child in the South who dared to dream; Vogue Magazine.

In this time, Talley pushed boundaries by having more black models and designers featured in Vogue than ever before and used his unique ability to make fashion’s history sound fantastical and awe-inspiring, making an Andre Leon Talley review as important as scripture. In the mid-'90s, Talley left the creative director position and stayed on as Vogue’s contributing editor to further pursue fashion writing in Paris. In those years, there wasn’t a launch, pre-show, fashion week, after party, or any other highly important fashion event on which he wasn’t on the list of honoured guests.

He returned to Vogue as the Editor-at-Large in 1998 until 2013, more insistent on inclusion and taking up space, but once again, not always met with respect.

“Vogue is not here to run a column about your ideas on Black History Month,” was said to him by Anna Wintour for which she later publicly apologised. In later years, he often spoke on the racism and homophobia he had witnessed and experienced even in his top position at Vogue and how he’d need to remove his identity and the politics thereof from the work and deliver something that people who resembled him can be proud of.

He said in an interview; “You don’t get up and say, ‘look, I’m black and I’m proud!’ You just do it and somehow it impacts the culture.”

And impact the culture it did. Talley will be remembered for how he uniquely adored fashion and pop culture, his meters and meters of regal capes on his towering figure and his infectious and enthusiastic charisma.

There are none like the A.L.T.

Sources:

1. The Gospel According to Andre, (USA), dir. Norvack, K., (2018)
2. Talley, A.L., (n.d), PBS NewsHour: Remembering André Leon Talley and his unique contributions to fashion (YouTube)