Fashion
André Leon Talley inspired a generation of fashion editors
André Leon Talley was good at drawing people into the fashion world. Indeed, that was his job. I grew up in the 90s going through my mother’s problems vogue, and as I grew older I became more and more obsessed with Talley’s chronicles – colorful dispatches from European film festivals, iconic runway shows and thrilling celebrity clashes. I was less interested in the clothes in the magazine than in the people and the world behind them. His writing was engaging, joyful and a bit gossipy, but also thoughtful, beautiful and substantial. This contrasted with the more solemn, jaded, sometimes condescending tone of most fashion writing; there was an accessibility to his passion and openness. He lifted the curtain just enough for someone like me to at least imagine one day existing behind it.
It’s just one of the ways Talley, who died on January 18 at the age of 73, inspired a generation of fashion editorial professionals who might not have seen their way into the industry. if he hadn’t opened his.
“He gave fashion editors permission to take themselves and their jobs seriously, but in a way that didn’t have to be embarrassed and joyless,” said award-winning author Eric Darnell Pritchard. “Shaping Lives: Black Gays and the Politics of Literacyand self-proclaimed writer, teacher, scholar and alchemist writes to me in an email. fashion as both an intellectual and creative enterprise that could emerge and simultaneously spark deep thought and joy.”
“It’s always the way he talked about fashion that I admired,” said Shelby Ying Hyde, fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. “He never, at least outwardly, let politics dull the passion he had for his craft.”
Talley was, of course, one of the first and few black people to rise through the historically exclusive ranks of fashion media at the time. He didn’t have the typical pedigree of the fashion world, having grown up in the segregated South and studied at an HBCU, and that no doubt shaped his perspective on the glamorous world he once dreamed of infiltrating. For those with a similar background, her existence has made working in fashion at least somewhat feasible.
“To see someone Black and Southern being so big in fashion meant something to me,” says fashion and costume historian Shelby Ivey Christie, who once worked at vogue. “I knew I stood on ALT’s shoulders and could only be in this space because of the foundation he laid.”
Beyond existing, Talley has made his presence known at every milestone of his professional career. Thanks in part to his magnetic, outsized personality and flamboyant personal style, he became a beloved public figure – the friendly man dominating Anna Wintour in the front row. And unlike most of his seatmates, he was not white, not straight, not thin, and did not come from wealth and privilege. He would have stood out whether he wanted to or not. But, above all, he leaned on his uniqueness.
“The presence of André Leon Talley was, for me, a child-turned-teen fashion nerd, an affirmation that my unconditional love of fashion, history and image art was more than a whimsical predilection. for the sublime that wasted time and got you nowhere,” says Pritchard. To them Talley’s presence said: “‘Yes, that thing which you adore, which to some makes you strange, has a destination which may make you happy. Yes, some may say you are too much, and s expect you to make yourself small as a condition of acceptance and even a modicum of security as a queer youth who was different, but authenticity has its rewards Yes, the living library of cultural history, the person smartest in the room, not only can be, but already is, in fact, a black person.”
Over time, Talley’s visibility and fame continued to grow; in addition to publishing two memoirs, he appeared in 2009’s “The September Issue” and, in 2017, his own documentary, “The Gospel According to André”. He also appeared frequently on talk shows and was judged on “America’s Next Top Model.”
Amira Rasool, Founder and CEO of The Folklore, a luxury e-commerce platform for African fashion brands, started her fashion career as a writer and editor. As a teenager, she learned about Talley through “The September Issue”.
“Witnessing the creative impact he had at vogue, the way he behaved and the respect he received let me know that it was possible for me to thrive in this type of environment,” she tells me. “The mere presence of Talley at vogue was an act of rebellion, and as a self-proclaimed teenage rebel, I knew I wanted to be part of this rebellious movement. Without having seen Talley in this film, I don’t know if I would have dreamed big enough to think that I would have a Vogue.com byline just two years out of college.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the most prominent black fashion editors and journalists working today might not be where they are without him. Immediately after his death, many took to social media to give him credit for leading the way.
“Without you, there would be no me” wrote British vogue Editor Edward Enninful. “André Leon Talley walked so I could run” tweeted QG The head of editorial content in France Pierre A. M’Pelé, alias Pam Boy. “For all the black kids who wanted to see themselves in fashion, André was a constant beacon of hope”, wrote stylist and fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who in 2021 became the first black woman to style a vogue blanket. “It was impossible not to aspire to be like him: uncompromising, brilliant, supremely and multi-talented.”
Of course, like most trailblazers, Talley didn’t exactly rise to the top of the fashion industry hierarchy unscathed. He opened up about the discrimination and bigotry he encountered along the way in “The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir” in 2020. Although heartbreaking, these stories showed how persistent he was, in addition to all the remains – that he was able to achieve so much and speak out shamelessly while repeatedly having to prove his worth behind the scenes. “You don’t stand up and say, ‘Look, I’m black and I’m proud,'” he wrote. “You just did it and it impacts the culture.”
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that much of my survival in the publishing industry is due to André,” says Cosmopolitan Beauty director Julee Wilson, who met Talley a few times and worked with him on a project before. “André showed we (Black and brown people) that despite the symbolism, disrespect and struggle we might go through, we can still hover and etch a legacy, no matter how big or small.”
Talley’s race was certainly not the only reason he inspired us, but, because of prejudice, it held him back and made his life more difficult and lonely. And while this bias has certainly not gone away, the hopeful result is that future generations won’t have to spend so much time and energy fighting it. As Pritchard says, “He made those who come after him just do their job.”
Those who have followed in Talley’s expansive footsteps naturally understand their responsibility, and the fashion editorial landscape will continue to diversify accordingly.
“I think one lesson I took away from her journey is the importance of community among other creatives — especially black creatives —,” notes Christie. “It’s important to support and work with your peers.”
“For black fashion editors and cultural critics, it presented a way to leverage the influence they had over their role to create more space and challenge long-standing practices of exclusion, while creating a path where there is room for subsequent generations to apply different tactics towards the same ends as well,” shares Pritchard.
Of course, fashion professionals of all races should learn from and be inspired by Talley’s life and legacy. As for a place to start? “We can ask ourselves how far we would already be in terms of equity, inclusion and justice if [Talley] had been able to do all the things he said he wanted to do with ease and aplomb, sit in the discomfort that comes with the answer, and then go and do the work so that we never had to ask this question about the next pioneer who becomes an ancestor,” offers Pritchard.
It was only a few years ago that the industry finally began to recognize its failures in addressing systematic racism within its institutions, and serious conversations resumed around creating more opportunities for underserved groups. represented. But Pritchard points out that writers and editors are often left out, arguing that more could be done to support those who aspire to more journalistic roles, in particular.
Obviously, Talley was not just a pioneer. His professional achievements, knowledge, insight, passion, generosity and sense of words were all remarkable and worthy of recognition – more recognition than he ultimately received – regardless of appearance or background. The void he leaves behind is huge, but while there is still work to be done, part of his legacy is the community of talented, hardworking people who can fill it.
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