Former Vogue creative director and editor-at-large André Leon Talley, known for his rare combination of exuberance, intellect, and brilliant humor, died on Jan. 18 in White Plains, New York at the age of 73. So many, in and outside of the fashion industry, have shared memories of interactions with him, which is a testament to the kind of person he was; happy to hold forth and share his knowledge—and love—of fashion with anyone interested in hearing them.
I think he would have liked very much that these anecdotes—instances so commonplace in his life, I’m sure, that I wonder how many he would even remember—are spilling onto the Internet. Which is why I want to share my own.
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In a 2009 interview with Time Out New York pegged to the release of R. J. Cutler’s Vogue documentary The September Issue, Talley was asked about his legacy:
In your September column for Vogue, you ask Serena Williams how she’d like to be remembered. How would you like people to remember you?
I’d like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of young people—that I nurtured someone and taught them to pursue their dreams and their careers, to leave a legacy. You cannot live your life in the elitist world of fashion and not step out or you’re disconnected. You have to realize that fashion is not the endgame.
I am one of the many young people Talley helped. He was neither my mentor nor my friend and I’m not sure if he even thought of it as helping, but over the course of my roughly 15 years as a journalist, he made himself personally accessible to me whenever I reached out. I don’t recall a publicist ever standing between us. In an industry self-serious enough that a creative director recently issued a formal statement instructing people to call him by his first name only, this is so rare with a fashion personality as famous as he was.
Source : time
