2 minute read
Andre Leon Talley
The legacy left behind from one of fashion’s finest.
BY KENNEDY HALL PHOTOS BY PROVIDED
Andre Leon Talley was an individual larger than life. Standing at 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Talley was not only grandeur in stature, but in personality as well, whose Andre-isms and pronouncements could be heard in the back row of fashion shows. He was a well-respected, influential trailblazer and fashion journalist. Talley died January 18 at the age of 73. He left behind a great legacy and is considered one of the last great fashion editors of this time.
Talley was born on October 16, 1948, in Washington, D.C. His grandmother raised him in Durham, North Carolina, during the Jim Crow South. As a child, he would read Vogue to escape the realities of the segregated South. In his memoir, The ChiffonTrenches, he mentioned that he dreamed of “living a life like the ones I saw in the pages of Vogue, where bad things never happened.” Vogue made him think about style, culture, and poetry. Aside from Vogue, his grandmother was one of the biggest influences in his life and career.
Talley graduated high school in 1966 and attended North Carolina Central University, a historically Black college, where he studied French. He furthered his education by getting his master’s in French Studies at Brown University, becoming the first person in his family to attend an Ivy League university. In college, Talley did not know who he was becoming at this time of his life, but he began to blossom. In 1974, Talley got an apprenticeship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the Costume Institute in New York City. And there, he became Diana Vreeland’s protégé. He worked at Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Ebony, and Vogue.
Talley impacted the fashion industry tremendously and inspired a generation. He broke boundaries being the first Black person to be a creative director and editor at large at Vogue. He even fronted the Women’s Wear Daily Paris bureau. Talley was often the only Black person sitting in the front row at fashion shows or in the room. He created a lane for Black people within the fashion industry during a time when Black creatives were not invited into these spaces.
Talley said in “The Gospel According to Andre,” his 2017 documentary. He experienced a lot of adversity and racism and was very vocal about the intersectionality of being Black and in the fashion industry.
Talley never forgot where he came from and the people who inspired him. His writings showed his immense knowledge of fashion history and his authentic and genuine love of glamour and beauty. He wrote in a way that made the reader experience the same emotion. He changed how people understand and view fashion today. His career has inspired many, and his influence will live on forever. In “The Gospel According to Andre,” he leaves it off with this advice: “Cultivate your own aesthetic and your own universe… and share it with people you respect and love.” Andre Leon Talley will never be forgotten the path he paved for Black people and his influence in the fashion industry.
