Vogue Icon André Leon Talley Passes Away at 73

Former Vogue Editor, André Leon Talley, Passes Away at 73

January 19, 2022

Andre Leon Talley during Paris Fashion Week - Autumn/Winter 2006 - Ready to Wear - Alexander McQueen - Runway and Front Row at Salle Marcel Cerdan - Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Susset-Lacroix/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Fashion editor AndrÃ© Leon Talley at Prabal Gurung Spring 2016 during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at The Arc, Skylight at Moynihan Station on September 13, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows)

Cover André Leon Talley during Paris Fashion Week - Autumn/Winter 2006 - Ready to Wear - Alexander McQueen - Runway and Front Row at Salle Marcel Cerdan - Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy in Paris, France. (Photo by Marc Susset-Lacroix/WireImage)

Tatler commemorates the legacy of a fashion powerhouse, André Leon Talley

American journalist and fashion icon, André Leon Talley, has passed away at the age of 73. The Vogue visionary had helmed the magazine between the Eighties and Nineties and was instrumental in building its direction through that time. Though those in the younger generation may remember him as a judge on America's Next Top Model, Talley was also known to many as the fashion magazine's news director and creative editor before his promotion to editor-at-large until 2013.

Sadly, news broke out through TMZ today that the visionary and creative had passed away at a hospital in New York. It was not immediately clear what he was battling at the time.

Above NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Fashion editor André Leon Talley at Prabal Gurung Spring 2016 during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at The Arc, Skylight at Moynihan Station on September 13, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows)

Not only was Talley a fashion pioneer, but he also lobbied for more people of colour to be models on the runway. He was an LGBTQ+ icon and was a close friend and stylist of the Obamas. He worked alongside Anna Wintour and was the subject of a film entitled The Gospel According to André.

Having previously been open about his childhood, Talley can be considered an inspiration to many aspiring journalists and stylists. He spoke about growing up in North Carolina, where a young Talley would browse through copies of Vogue and become fascinated by style and fashion. "At an early age I discovered the beauty in pictures in Vogue magazine and Ebony magazine, and I would read The New York Times. I had to make my own world within my world because I was an only child," he once revealed.

Before he passed, he wrote two memoirs, which some many consider rather provocative: A.L.T: A Memoir and The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir. Despite some controversy, Talley will forever be remembered for his wit, perseverance, and style. As he once said, "I do believe there's a heaven. I do believe that God has given me the resilience and the survival skills to withstand the chiffon trenches."

And he had.

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