Anna Wintour remembered long-time colleague André Leon Talley as looming presence in the fashion industry Wednesday, a day after his death.
“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,” Wintour, the ever-present Vogue editor-in-chief, said in a statement.
“Even his stream of colorful faxes and emails were a highly anticipated event, something we all looked forward to.”
But more importantly, Wintour wrote, she wanted to honor the “immeasurable” loss of her friend.
“He was magnificent and erudite and wickedly funny — mercurial, too,” she said. “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.”
Talley, raised by his grandmother in Durham, North Carolina, worked his way up through Women’s Wear Daily, W and the New York Times before landing at Vogue in 1983, where he would remain for most of the next four decades.
“Good bye darling André,” designer Diane von Furstenberg wrote after his death. “No one saw the world in a more elegant and glamorous way than you did. No one was more soulful and grander than you were. The world will be less joyful now. I have loved you and laughed with you for 45 years…. I will miss your loud screams and your loyal friendship…I love you soooo much.”
Actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein tweeted, “A truly original heart, spirit and mind. He cast a giant shadow and will not soon be forgotten. What loss.”
“A singular force in fashion — brilliant, fierce, unapologetic and committed to social justice in an industry that too often refused to acknowledge Black beauty, creativity & excellence,” his longtime friend Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, said.
“Slave Play” playwright Jeremy O. Harris wrote, “For a little black gay boy who reached for the stars from the south, there were few people I could look up to up there amongst the stars who looked like me just more fab except for you Andre.”
“André Leon Talley was a big inspiration for me to want to work in fashion,” tweeted stylist Brad Goreski.
“I am in shock,” wrote fashion designer Marc Jacobs. “You championed me and you have been my friend since my beginning. Our chats, the moments we shared….oh my friend. You and your passions were larger than life.”
Fashion designer duo Tom and Lorenzo called him “the King of American Style.”
“We won’t see his like again,” they wrote.
Model Coca Rocha similarly honored him as a “legendary figure in fashion and a walking encyclopedia of knowledge.”
“Beyond the larger than life persona, I knew him personally as a sweet and genuinely kind human being. He and I were Westchester County neighbors for much of the last decade and he would often check in on my family and I. In the last email he sent me, we were discussing having tea and introducing him to my newest baby girl, Iley,” she wrote.
“His final departing words to me were ‘Nothing matters in this world but family and love, and you have IT.’ I hope, in the moments before he passed, he recalled how much he also was loved by the extended family he had fostered over many decades in this industry. He will be missed.”
Designer Christian Siriano called Talley “a legend lost” and “forever icon who changed the game for so many.”
“Heartbroken,” wrote Zac Posen. “What a loss. Thank you for the wisdom, the support over many years of friendship. Andre’s belief in my work meant so much to me.”
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