“A good lipstick is the basis of everything,
darling
! It gives attitude. In life, everything is a question of attitude. In this regard, André Leon Talley, who died on Tuesday January 18 at the age of 73, had no lesson to receive from anyone. He was a legend. This two-meter-and-inch American titan, whom we met in 2013, was a stylistic figure all on his own. Each season, he lit up Fashion Weeks, sometimes draped in silk kimonos, jersey caftans, velvet capes or flowered boubous. The man didn't back down from anything… not even a pair of
open toe loafers
in wine-colored velvet.
“You have to dare,” he proclaimed perched on a stool at the Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris.
“We have to keep this freedom.
Elegance today is individuality.
My kimono looks like a tepee under which we could house an entire family of Lilliputians.
So what?
I wear what I like and what gives me confidence.”
In life, everything is a question of attitudeAndré leon Talley
The model he displayed then was signed Ralph Rucci: “Obviously made to measure. I love it, I love it, I love it!”, he repeated in perfect French. It was visible: André Leon Talley did not take half measures. When he worshiped, he worshiped three times. When he didn't like it, he was just as eager to point it out. His outspokenness was a reflection of his stature: pharaonic, spectacular and sometimes… frightening. Wasn't he nicknamed the fashion sniper? “You have to know how to articulate things, he defended himself. Telling a creator that his collection is bad allows him to grow. It was my friend Anna (
Wintour, with whom relations were strained in 2013, editor's note)
who taught me this lesson. And we can trust him, right?
He was adjusting the belt of his kimono.
“After all, she is the queen.
She is the empress of fashion.”
André Leon Talley (nicknamed ALT) had been commenting on fashion – among other things – for forty years in the columns of
US Vogue
.
"I arrived in 1983, shortly after Anna," he recalled.
He was then 34 years old.
Was he impressed to enter this supreme temple of fashion?
“
God no!
I had already rolled my bump… Especially at
Women's Wear Daily
and
Interview Magazine
.
I was recognized in the middle.
Sunday clothes
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley.
(Marc Jacobs show, New York, February 2008.)
Picture Abaca
Small (yes, he was small), ALT is entrusted to his grandmother.
He then lives in Durham, one of those small towns in North Carolina plagued by segregation.
“My grandmother was a servant all her life.
We didn't have a lot of money, he remembered.
But the house was a cocoon full of love.
There was always a good meatloaf waiting in the oven.
I can still smell the scent of Sunday cookies.”
It is precisely this day of the week that marks
André 's first
fashion emotions.
“My grandmother was a pillar of our parish.
To go to church, she put on her best dresses.
Nothing extravagant, but excellent quality.
All the household money went to Sunday food and clothes!”
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
At the end of his studies, André Leon Talley arrives in Manhattan and meets a local figure on the rise: Andy Warhol.
He offers him his very first job at the Factory.
(Photo Andy Warhol.)
Photo Getty Images
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
André Leon Talley and Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, in 1978.
Photo Getty Images
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
André Leon Talley and Marc Jacobs in New York, November 1990.
Photo Getty Images
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Her secret to having style?
“Show great energy!
Bet on accessories and cultivate a certain singularity.
Why do you want to look like the neighbor?
(New York, 2003.)
Photo Getty Images
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley
See the slideshow
10 pictures
While his grandmother was reading the Bible, André discovered one day, by chance,
Vogue
magazine .
"A revelation !
I was 9 years old, he remembered.
Another world then opened up to me.
I marveled at the photos, the outfits, the looks.”
Every year, grandmother and grandson take the bus to New York to visit old aunts.
“A chance for me to stock up on
Vogue and
New York Times
fashion supplements
.
Antonio Lopez's illustrations were fantastic, fantastic, fantastic!”
"Madame Bovary is one of my first muses"
When he is not immersed in a magazine, he devours the great classics of Gustave Flaubert: “Ah, Madame Bovary… what a woman! She fascinated me, she embodied elegance and extravagance on her own. She is one of my first muses.” Zola, Victor Hugo, Stendhal… André studied all the classics of French literature. A French diploma in his pocket, he left Durham for Providence to validate a master's degree. The young man then plans to become a professor of French literature. Fate will decide otherwise.
He began to hang out with the students of the Rhode Island School of Design: among them, dandies, fanatics, daddy's boys and a whole host of eccentrics who adopted André and his folkloric wardrobe on the spot.
There is no longer any question of segregation or skin color: "For the first time in my life, I was popular."
At the end of his studies, he landed in Manhattan.
He quickly met a rising local figure: Andy Warhol.
He offered him his very first job at the Factory, a mythical place in turn exhibition gallery, film studio, concert hall, nightclub...
I only know the ones that matter, darling!
The young André, then dressed in well-made three-piece suits, created an influential network. Then it is the meeting with the one he called Mrs. Vreeland. Former editor-in-chief of
Vogue
, this emblematic figure of fashion then worked for the MET on the staging of ephemeral exhibitions. More than his assistant, André becomes his protege. “She taught me rigor, a taste for effort, perfectionism, style. I owe him everything." Diana Vreeland will be her lucky star. He quickly signed papers for
Interview Magazine
, then for
WWD
before joining
Vogue
. "Icons never die," he continued, moved. And Mrs. Vreeland is the prettiest. His haircut confirms it.
The capillary reasoning of ALT?
The icons do not change cut: “Look at Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Grace Coddington, Carla Sozzani… everything is said,
darling!
What about new generation fashion editors like the Russian Anya Ziourova or the American Caroline Issa?
“Caroline who?” he whispered, barely embarrassed.
“I only know the ones that matter,
darling!
I'm from the old school."
The flame
After each show, he sent a handwritten note to the creator to deliver his impressions. An outdated habit in a world undergoing digital change? This colossus was nonetheless the hard disk of fashion. He quoted Yves Saint Laurent to the comma, came back to Karl Lagerfeld's first fashion show for Chanel, raved about the pleats of Madame Grès, evoked a whimsical conversation with Miuccia Prada… André was an enthusiast. At 63, could the flame fade? “
What?
But you don't think about it,
darling
!”
Very involved in the Savannah College of Art and Design, he played the curator for a thousand and one exhibitions (including the one devoted to the little black dress, which had just ended at the Mona Bismarck American Center);
fed the
Vogue
US website with his good words, but above all, had just been appointed editorial director of
Numéro Russia
.
He would later become a juror of the reality TV show "America's Next Top Model", artistic director of Zappos, and adviser to the start-up created by musician will.i.am.
And would leave his post at
Vogue
to become a one-time collaborator.
André Leon Talley confidential
The secret to having style
: “Display a great energy!
Bet on accessories and cultivate a certain singularity.
Why do you want to look like the neighbor?
His Parisian addresses
: “La maison Charvet for socks, ties and shirts;
L'Avenue for lunch with friends;
Roger Vivier for the beauty of the shoes, and the gardens of the Palace of Versailles to decompress.”
Designers to
watch: “Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko, whose collections perfectly reflect her Slavic soul.
I also really like the work of the duo Proenza Schouler and that of Prabal Gurung.”
Her fashion icons
: “Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Miuccia Prada, Beyoncé and Michelle Obama…
Who else?
»
The ideal dinner
: “At my place!
I would invite Karl (Lagerfeld), Tom (Ford), Marc (Jacobs), Gloria (von Thurn und Taxis), Anna (Wintour), Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
I would probably be barefoot, draped in one of my silk caftans.
On the menu: vodka, caviar and potatoes.
I would finish with a fabulous scotch and a light sorbet.”
*This article, originally published on October 6, 2013, has been updated.
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