Fashion editor André Leon Talley dies at 73

As reported a few hours ago by the former editor of

Graydon Carter, through his website,

, André Leon Talley has died this Tuesday in a hospital in White Plains (New York) after suffering a heart attack.

With more than 50 years of career behind her, Talley wrote for several prestigious fashion publications, such as

,

or

, but it was her work in the American edition of

what made him famous to the general public. He was the magazine's chief information officer, its creative director and one of Anna Wintour's confidants, becoming the first African-American to hold a prominent position in the fashion industry.

Born in 1948 in Washington DC, he grew up with his grandmother in North Carolina, studied French literature at Brown University and in 1974 was discovered by Diana Vreeland, the famous editor of

and

, with whom he worked on the exhibitions of fashion of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. She later met Andy Warhol and began her career at the artist's magazine,

. In 2020, now far from the media spotlight, he published a memoir

in which he reviewed his years in the profession and recounted his efforts to break down racial barriers in fashion.

Although the figure of Leon Talley was associated with luxury and frivolity, the truth is that his career was full of lights and shadows. "I keep the good, but fashion can be a very cruel environment," he commented a year ago in an interview in

. African-American and from a lower-class family, the editor spent half his life striving to enter an environment, that of the fashion of the 70s and 80s, plagued by classist and racist gestures. He resigned from his post as Paris correspondent for

magazine when he learned that in certain circles he was mocked as

.

magazine

, created for African-American audiences, and writing features at

, Talley came to the American edition of

in 1983 as a news editor; in 1988, at the hands of its director Anna Wintour, he would become the creative director of the publication. It was then that his figure acquired world fame; his ironic character and his style, almost always dressed in colorful kaftans (later he would say that he used them to "hide his insecurity") made him a fashion icon in the nineties and the first two thousand.

In 2008, he worked as a style adviser to Michelle Obama during her first months as first lady. And in 2010 he began working as a jury on the reality show

and returned to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which was his first job, to act as master of ceremonies at its annual gala. Three years later, when he was at the top of the media, he left

due to disagreements with Anna Wintour, whom he describes in his memoirs as someone cold and calculating who pushed him away for "being older and uncomfortable." His departure from the publication caused other big names, such as Karl Lagerfeld, to stop calling him.

For the past decade, Talley has dedicated herself to advocacy for racial diversity in fashion. "There was a moment when I realized that as a prominent member of the newsroom, it was my obligation to promote black excellence, whether it was a model, a book, a movie or a play," he commented in 2018 during his talk on the 080 catwalk in Barcelona, ​​where he attended to present the documentary

, a visual review of his life, from his childhood in the south of the United States, his efforts to enter fashion, his successes as editor or his last facet as an activist. "Now fashion is on the right track, it is much more inclusive, not only with regard to race, but also in other aspects," he told S Moda in the interview.

Forgotten by the industry in recent years, he returned to the news with the publication of his memoirs in 2020. Shortly after, he starred in a campaign for the fashion firm UGG and last April he received the French government's distinction as Knight of the Arts and the letters.

Meanwhile, he was facing an eviction order from his White Plains home and seeking reconciliation with Anna Wintour, with whom he said he had returned to exchanging emails.

"I only regret the things I could have learned when I was young, like learning other languages ​​or learning to sew," she said.

Today, many of the designers that Talley supported in the beginning, such as Marc Jacobs, Christian Siriano or Lacquan Smith, remember one of the most legendary fashion editors on their networks.