Vogue Posts Tributes to Fashion Legend Andre Leon Talley, After Readers Call Out Mag For Ignoring Death (Updated)
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Andre Leon Talley, fashion legend and former editor-at-large of Vogue magazine, has died at 73. As news outlets covered the news with breaking stories and obits, readers of Vogue called out the magazine for remaining conspicuously silent, both on its website and main Instagram page.
On Wednesday morning, the magazine posted an obituary by Vogue Runway editor Nicole Phelps, as well as a photo essay documenting his life.
Talley’s literary agent David Vigliano confirmed his death late Tuesday night, and the icon’s Instagram account posted a confirmation on Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness we announce the passing of André Leon Talley on January 18, 2022, in New York. Mr. Talley was the larger-than-life, longtime creative director at Vogue during its rise to dominance as the world’s fashion bible,” read the caption.
“Over the past five decades as an international icon was a close confidant of Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Paloma Picasso, Diane von Furstenberg, Bethann Hardison, Manolo Blahnik and he had a penchant for discovering, nurturing and celebrating young designers.”
Talley began at Vogue in 1983, and in 1988 was named the magazine’s creative director, also serving as the fashion bible’s editor-at-large.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour hired him for the role, making him “the highest-ranking black man in the history of fashion journalism,” which he acknowledged in his 2020 memoir The Chiffon Trenches.
The two, however, had an ultimately strained relationship after a falling out in the 90s, which led him to leave the fashion magazine in 1995.
“I was a friend to Anna and I knew I mattered back in our earlier days together. Today, I would love for her to say something human and sincere to me,” he wrote in his memoir. “I have huge emotional and psychological scars from my relationship with this towering and influential woman, who can sit by the queen of England, on the front row of a fashion show, in her uniform of dark glasses and perfect Louise Brooks clipped coiffure framing her Mona Lisa mystery face.”
Even after his time at Vogue, Talley’s presence in the industry was impossible to ignore, as the 6-foot-6 journalist would often sport iconic robes and caftans while sitting front row at top fashion shows.
“Wearing clothes should be a personal narrative of emotion. I always respond to fashion in an emotional way,” Talley said in the famed 2009 Vogue documentary The September Issue, adding, “I have to get up and approach life with my own aesthetics about style.”
While his style was incomparable, Talley was also known for his history confronting racism in the fashion industry, as he often urged designers to hire more Black models and diversify their shows.
Talley penned a powerful Washington Post op-ed regarding the publication of Beyoncé’s historic September 2018 Vogue cover, highlighting the significance of capturing a Black model through the lens of Black photographer Tyler Mitchell.
“The first in the history of Vogue covers,” he noted.
After praising the importance of “the blackness of this art,” explaining how the cover pays historic tribute “to all the women of our community’s past who never could have dreamed of a cover,” Talley lamented how those at Vogue did not seem to grasp the magnitude of the moment.
“Not one of those editors wrote me about the piece. Not one quick email from Anna Wintour,” he wrote. “Editors I’ve worked with for decades didn’t understand the immense importance of this occasion simply because they are not capable of understanding. None of my contemporaries have seen the world through black eyes.”
The article showcased how outspoken in his criticism he could be towards those in his own industry, emphasizing his dedication to progressing the fashion world.
Tributes to the idol, including from fashion figures Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Bob Mackie, and Carson Kressley, have already started to pour in.
While Talley and Wintour’s relationship was rocky, the high-powered editor wrote a lengthy statement on his death that was included in his Vogue obituary:
The loss of Andre is felt by so many of us today: the designers he enthusiastically cheered on every season, and who loved him for it; the generations he inspired to work in the industry, seeing a figure who broke boundaries while never forgetting where he started from; those who knew fashion, and Vogue, simply because of him; and, not forgetting, the multitude of colleagues over the years who were consistently buoyed by every new discovery of Andre’s, which he would discuss loudly, and volubly—no one could make people more excited about the most seemingly insignificant fashion details than him. Even his stream of colorful faxes and emails were a highly anticipated event, something we all looked forward to. Yet it’s the loss of Andre as my colleague and friend that I think of now; it’s immeasurable. He was magnificent and erudite and wickedly funny—mercurial, too. Like many decades-long relationships, there were complicated moments, but all I want to remember today, all I care about, is the brilliant and compassionate man who was a generous and loving friend to me and to my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss so much.
Although Vogue took some more time to cover the news, Teen Vogue as well as multiple international editions of the magazine, including Vogue France, have shared tributes to the legend Tuesday night and early Wednesday.
