Magazine

André Leon Talley, of Vogue magazine, dies at 73

By Samuel A. Smith

André Leon Talley, the iconic former creative director and editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, died Tuesday in White Plains, New York. Talley was 73 years old.

Talley, whose towering height (six-foot-six) and equally tall personality made him a fashion legend, suffered from persistent health issues. According to vogue, He died of a heart attack. Talley left no close relatives.

In one declaration, Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, said: “Andrewstar Leon Talley was a singular force in an industry in which he had to fight for recognition.

Anna Wintour, vogues Editor-in-Chief, said in a statement: “It‘it is the loss of Andréstar as my colleague and friend that I think of now; this‘is immeasurable. He was beautiful and erudite and wickedly funny – mercurial too. As in many decades-long relationships, there were some tough times, but all I want to remember today, all I care about is the brilliant, compassionate man who was a friend generous and loving to me and my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss dearly.

Fashion Director for vogue From 1983 to 1987

Talley, who also served as fashion director for vogue from 1983 to 1987 became synonymous with the magazine and its lifelong friendship with Anna Wintour. This relationship had become stormy in recent years.

“I have huge emotional and psychological scars from my relationship with this towering and influential woman. Simple human kindness. No, she can’t,” Talley wrote of Wintour in his New York Times best selling briefs of 2020 Muslin trenches.

Talley said the Guardian, “I am 71 years old and I take my story with me wherever I go. The past is always present.”

Talley, who worked at vogue until 2013, was the first black man to serve as the magazine’s creative director. According to vogue, Talley spoke of his impact, saying: “You do not‘don’t stand up and say, ‘look, I‘i am black and i‘I am proud,‘ you just did it and it impacts the culture.

“Fashion can be an emotional experience”

While Talley’s immense love for fashion was legendary, the industry didn’t always embrace it. Talley wrote that he faced “occasional subtle jabs that white people inherently make towards people of color.

“A black man goes through life realizing, There, but for the grace of God, I go. Racism moves beneath the skin like a constant, constant reality,” Talley wrote in the introduction to her 2020 memoir.

“People did things to me that I forgave them for,” Talley wrote. “There are things in the book that you can‘I can’t imagine – racism, everything. You do not‘I don’t even understand how much I‘I crossed…”

“Fashion can be an emotional experience,” he wrote.

Global tributes

In the 2018 documentary, The Gospel According to Andrew, designer Tom Ford says of Talley, “Andrewstar is one of the last of those great publishers who knows what he’s looking at, knows what he sees, knows where it’s coming from. Andrewstar throw all these different words and he‘is so big and so big, many people think, ‘This guy is crazy but this‘fabulous madness.

Writing of Talley’s death on Instagram, Ford wrote, “Loved Andre. He was brilliant…just when he said something so utterly shocking and worthy of Marie Antoinette, he then contradicted it with a statement so clean and fair that it reminded you of exactly why he had been able to come so far into the world .”

“He‘it’s the Nelson Mandela of couture, the Kofi Annan of what you’ve done,” musician will.i.am said in The Gospel According to Andrewstar.

Talley mentored many fledgling designers who would later become fashion heavyweights, including Zac Posen. Talley became an ubiquitous presence in the front row of fashion shows and later added his stature to programs like America’s next top model. Talley was also featured in the acclaimed 2009 documentary The September issue.

Talley developed a reputation for his love of luxury and was tagged by the Guardian like a “prince of excess”. Talley said, “This refined and dandy art of living: it‘it’s not about glamor – it’s‘s self-respect, a norm… I may have had moments of height. HEIGHT. But I’ve never been a snob.

Friends and fans took to social media to mourn Talley’s death.

Bette Midler wrote: “I‘I’m sorry to say that the extraordinary #AndreLeonTalley has passed away. He was such a force, & believed in the magic of Fashion & its illusions with his whole being. Her life has been a saga of highs, lows, drama, ridicule and the endless pursuit of beauty. Love and heartbreak.

Designer Carolina Herrera wrote: “Andrewstar Leon Talley was the most passionate fashion critic. He was the fashion historian of our time. He was unique, and he will never be replaced by anyone in the world. He was my dear friend and I loved him.

“Goodbye dear Andrewstarwrote designer Diane Von Furstenberg on Instagram.“No one saw the world more elegantly and glamorously than you…no one was more moving and grander than you…the world will be less joyous now…I loved you and laughed with you for 45 years… I will miss your loud cries and your faithful friendship… I love you so much.

Ralph Toledano, President of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion, describe Talley as “a phenomenal journalist, who has amazed you with his analysis of fashion and all of fashion history in general”.

Pierpaolo Piccioli, Valentino‘creative director, noted, “André was a fashion icon, who truly marked and accompanied, with his progressive vision, a unique and magnificent era. He will continue to inspire the fashion world and everything that revolves around it. He will live on in our hearts and memories. »

During his lifetime, Talley never publicly stated that he was gay, instead telling Wendy Williams in an interview, “No, I’m not heterosexual; I say I’m fluid in my sexuality, honey. In a 2013 interview with vanity lounge, Talley said he rejected “the label” but admitted to “very gay experiences”.

“I swear on my grandmother‘It’s serious that I’ve never slept with a single creator in my life. Never, never wanted, never asked, never approached, never, never bought, in my entire career. Never. Not one. Skinny or fat. Never,” Talley said.

Born in 1948, Talley told vanity lounge, “I had a very strict, almost puritanical upbringing… I was with my grandmother‘his house, and I respected that!

Talley attended Central University of North Carolina, majoring in French Studies and later received his Master‘s degree from Brown University. He moved to New York in the 1970s, where he served as an unpaid apprentice for fashion editor Diana Vreeland.

Talley then worked at Interview magazine and befriends Andy Warhol. Talley has also worked for Daily Women’s Clothing and The New York Times and was the author of several books later in life.

“To my 12-year-old self, raised in the segregated South, the idea of ​​a black man playing any role in this world seemed impossible,” Talley wrote.

“thinking about where i‘I come from where we‘I where I came from, when I was alive, and where we are today, it’s amazing. And yet, of course, we still have a long way to go. »

Samuel A. Smith
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