“alt”, as it was nicknamed, is the first black to have been editor of the American magazine “Vogue”. He died Tuesday at the age of 73.
Le Monde with AFP
The influential fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley, first black to have been director of the creation of the American magazine Vogue, died Tuesday, January 18 in New York at the age of 73, according to a statement published on its Instagram account
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Andre Leon Talley”, according to the published text. “International icon During the last five decades, it was the near confidant of Yves Saint Laurent, from Karl Lagerfeld, Paloma Picasso, Diane von Furstenberg and liked to discover, encourage and celebrate young creators.”
Born in Washington in 1948, Andre Leon Talley, nicknamed “Alt”, was largely high by his grandmother in Durham (North Carolina) and was interested in fashionable. “Every Sunday, I crossed the railway to go to the easy part of Durham buy Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and I was coming back to my grandmother read my magazines”, Had it entrusted to the British newspaper The Guardian in May 2020. “I could put me away from harassment and sexual assault and refuge in a world of Beauty. “
Andre Leon Talley never explicitly said he was homosexual. In 2018, guest of the show “The Wendy Williams Show”, He declared : “I am not heterosexual. I say that I am fluid in my sexuality, darling.”
An exuberant colossus
He had studied French at the university, getting a master’s degree at the prestigious Brown University, before entering the world of fashion journalism.
After passing through Andy Warhol’s interview magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, W and a brief stay at New York Times, he joined Vogue as Director of Fashion Information in 1983, the same year as Anna Wintour, who will become the editor in chief. He will remain there thirty years, until his departure, in 2013, with the titles of Director of Creation or Editor, forming a Duo-Lighthouse with Anna Wintour.
This exuberant colossus wanted more diversity on the podiums and supported black designers. In addition to its activities as a fashion journalist, he was a judge in the emission of reality TV “America’s Next Top Model” and also made appearances in some episodes of the Sex and The City and Empire series.
He wrote three books, including his memoirs in 2020 (the trenches cloth), a bestseller in which he tells his famous blur with the all-powerful Anna Wintour.
The world of fashion and culture paid tribute to social networks. “Goodbye Dear Andre (…) Nobody saw the world in a more chic and elegant way as you, wrote on Instagram Furstenberg’s designer Diane. “I loved you and I laughed with you 45 years old. “
Actresses Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis shared their sadness on Twitter, as well as the author of the Slavian play play, Jeremy O. Harris, who wrote that “for a gay black boy who wanted to reach the stars since The South, there were few people up there among the stars that looked like me, just sublime, and to which I could look up, except you, Andre “.
I am sad to hear of Andre Leon Talley’s Passing. My Thoughts and Prayers are with His Loved One.