Legendary fashion editor André Leon Talley died of a heart attack on January 18, US time, at the age of 73. The fashion legend, who worked as an editor in several world-famous fashion magazines, worked alongside Anna Wintour while working for Vogue in the United States, making him the first African-American fashion authority in the fashion industry.
Perhaps the asian audience's biggest impression on him was that he was a judge on the model talent show America's Next Top Model, and the sudden death of André Leon Talley left the fashion industry in mourning.
André Leon Talley began to rise in the fashion industry in the 80s, and before officially joining the fashion industry, he had worked with diana Vreeland, the fashion godmother, the artist Andy Warhol, and because of Andy Warhol, he had long known Lafayette Karl Lagerfeld and became a lifelong friend.
To talk about André Leon Talley's fashion journey, it is necessary to start from his own skin color, the past fashion industry was prejudiced against black people, and to enter the fashion industry can be said to be a fantasy. Brought up by his mother-in-law, because of her mother-in-law's profession as a cleaner, the home, although simple, was always clean and bright, and André Leon Talley also mentioned in his memoir "A.L.T.: A Memoir" that he never used a wrinkled towel before leaving home.
In addition to being neat, his mother-in-law also opened his interest in fashion. In the African-American community, weekly church services are the most important thing in the community, and they dress up to attend the service at their best. It was also from these not-so-wealthy women who showed their unique fashion tastes that stimulated André Leon Talley's interest in fashion.
Among andré Leon Talley's classmates in middle school, he said that the happiest thing he had every month about French and fashion magazines was vogue magazine. After graduating from high school, he studied French literature at university and completed a master's degree in art studies at Brown University.
After graduating with a master's degree, André Leon Talley went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to apprentice Diana Vreeland and assisted her with the exhibition. The discerning Diana Vreeland saw his potential in fashion, recommended him to work in artist Andy Warhol's studio and Interview magazine, met many legends, and embarked on his fashion journey.
From the moment he stepped into the fashion industry, André Leon Talley became the focus of his skin color and height, although there were several black models in the fashion industry in the 70s and 80s, but he was the only editor and stylist, and he was also questioned and criticized to a certain extent because of his skin color, but he spoke with his own works, starting from "Interview", all the way to "WWD", "W" and other fashion publications, joined the American Vogue magazine family in 1983, and then with Anna Wintour was inextricably linked.
When André Leon Talley joined, Anna Wintour was still in england, and the two of them sat side by side on the fashion riot, opposite Anna Wintour's black face and unsmiling smile, and André Leon Talley, who loved to laugh and exaggerate, but the two people's touch and opinion on fashion became the mark of the magazine.
As the first person in the industry, André Leon Talley also did not forget to promote other minorities, promote more fashion designs to adopt more minority models, and he also made more minority models appear in magazines. In addition to promoting the industry, many designers have also shown that André Leon Talley is one of the few in the industry who has a deep understanding of fashion and art history, and can directly point out and understand the inspiration of designers.
The performance of the documentary "The First Monday in May", which recorded the Met Gala, led to the production team and later produced a documentary on his theme, "The Gospel According to Andre", which tells about his life and his influence on the fashion industry, especially American fashion.
André Leon Talley's break with Anna Wintour was due to the fact that he had been presiding over the work of the Met Gala red carpet and was replaced by internet celebrity Liza Koshy without warning in 2018, which he said he could not accept and understand, and became the trigger for their parting ways.
André Leon Talley later wrote his autobiography, The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir, which also mentions memories and comments about Anna Wintour, as well as responses to media interviews, which was not written in retaliation for Anna, but rather a love letter to her.
André Leon Talley said that before publication, he sent the content to Anna Wintour to ask if there was any need to delete or modify it, and Anna did not revise any comments about her, only asking for the details of her daughter's wedding and some parts involving privacy to be deleted, but Then André Leon Talley could no longer contact Anna Wintour directly.
For the autobiography, André Leon Talley hopes to inspire future generations through his story as an editor in the fashion industry, as long as they have confidence in themselves, they can survive in a harsh environment.