The term “larger than life” floated around as the tributes poured in remembrance of André Leon Talley, the fashion editor and style icon who died Tuesday, January 18, at the age of 73.
Referring to both his personality and physical stature – the phrase became a convenient descriptor long before he became an ancestor. Talley seemed to exhibit a hint of discomfort when used in his presence as introduction fodder during his countless appearances as a fashion expert on talk shows and red carpets.
The offense was warranted because of its implications to his body type. But the towering frame of an unapologetic Black man in an industry where thin white women have been historically affirmed as the acceptable standard made his ascension all the more extraordinary.
“A titan of fashion journalism serving us a sermon of high fashion octane knowledge with bravado,” supermodel Iman said as she remembered Talley.
In his glorious capes and elaborate caftans, Talley not only proclaimed himself worthy – he commanded a seat at the head of fashion’s royal table.
“Your clothes must make you feel fabulous,” Talley told a St. Louis audience when he visited for Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s “Speaking of Fashion” lecture series in conjunction with the Saint Louis Art Museum 2017 exhibition Reigning Men, Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015. “Everyone might not like the way you dress, but with everything you put on, you must feel that you are absolutely the most fabulous thing walking down the street.”
Susan Sherman, co-founder of Saint Louis Fashion Fund was first introduced to Talley through a mutual friend and she invited him to speak as part of the “Speaking of Fashion” series hosted at the Saint Louis Art Museum in 2017.
“He was larger than life – which has been said a million times but it’s true,” Sherman said. “But he was also a gentle giant. He was thrilled with his mentoring of students and young designers in his later years.”
Fashion Designer Michael Shead who had the honor of being Talley’s mentee said he learned a lot about the ins and outs of the industry from the icon. He said he always instilled in him the gem to make sure what you’re creating is authentic to you.
“Make sure it’s authentic to your compass and make sure that you’re doing what inspires you and being creative,” Shead said.
He also said Talley emphasized how the industry will challenge him and others in their work.
“He challenged me to the point where he told me you only should be doing evening wear and bridal,” Shead said. “He was like those are your strengths, these department stores are dying. You’d be a fool to do ready-to-wear for the department stores.”
Chi Anderson, a model, and creative model coach didn’t have the opportunity to have a personal relationship with Talley like Shead and Sherman, but she still stressed the importance of his influence.
“He created a lane all on his own and he flourished in that,” Anderson said. “It’s so many people that have tried to mimic Andre and they just fail. He was an absolute one-of-a-kind. I hate that I did not get a chance to be in the same room as him.”
With his presence, Talley created space for the next generation of Black fashionistas – from designers, creative directors to journalists, models and photographers. He simultaneously provided style counsel to some of the biggest names in popular culture.
“He’s the Nelson Mandela of couture, the Kofi Anon of what you’ve got on,” Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am said in Kate Novak’s 2018 documentary “The Gospel According to André.”
The film chronicled his nearly 50-year career of rising through the ultra-exclusive and insulated fashion industry ranks. He interned with famed former Vogue Editor-In-Chief Diana Vreeland, worked with Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine, and served as Paris Bureau Chief for Women’s Wear Daily. A New York Times bestselling author, Talley is perhaps best known for tag-teaming with Vogue’s current Editor in Chief Anna Wintour in several roles for more than 25 years. He became Vogue’s first Black male Creative Director and later worked as Editor at Large.
Before their famous rift, he often heaped praise on Wintour for giving him the space to be in an industry that constantly reminded him that he didn’t belong.
“What I remember is that I was not so much of his protector,” Wintour said of Talley in “The Gospel According to André,” To be totally candid, my fashion history is not so great, and his was impeccable, so I think I learned a lot from him.”
The first chapters of Talley’s encyclopedic knowledge of fashion, style, glamour and elegance came courtesy of the Vogue magazine pages he flipped through in a public library in the heart of the Jim Crow South during his formative years.
“Andre is one of the last of those great editors who knows what they are looking at, knows what they are seeing and knows where it came from,” designer Tom Ford said in the film.
André Leon Talley was born in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1948, but was raised in Durham, North Carolina, by his grandmother – who indoctrinated him with her sense of elegance and style. He had to deal with the harsh realities of segregation and racism, but fashion journalism provided a safe haven.
“My escape from reality was Vogue Magazine,” Talley said.
He was particularly influenced by seeing pioneering models Naomi Sims and Pat Cleveland within the magazine’s pages.
“I loved seeing Black people in Vogue, and these were two incredible Black models changing fashion,” Talley said. “[Through their presence] I could see there were people who were not racist – who were not judging you for the skin color you had.”
After receiving an undergraduate degree from the HBCU North Carolina Central University in his hometown of Durham, Talley earned a fellowship to Brown University – where he earned a master’s degree in French Studies.
His classmates at Brown convinced him to lean into his passion for fashion as a profession. He moved to New York in the mid-1970s. In less than a decade, he had ascended to the top of the field. After a career-defining run at Women’s Wear Daily, Talley returned from France to lend his talents to the magazine that introduced him to the industry – where he became the first Black male creative director.
He detailed his life in fashion best-selling book “The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir.” The book also chronicles the racist abuse and personal attacks he endured as a Black man in the overwhelmingly white fashion industry.
“It’s rough, the chiffon trenches,” Talley said. “I make it look effortless sitting on the front row all those years with the attitude, the sable coats and the Prada coats – but it has been rough. People say, ‘how do you do it? How have you put up with this world for so long?” I say, ‘through my faith and my ancestors.’”
