Andre Leon Talley
André Leon Talley is Vogue’s Editor at Large, regularly delivering a witty, pithy column called Life with André, as well as taking charge of many special fashion and celebrity projects for the magazine.
His career at Vogue began in 1983 when he was hired as fashion news director, later becoming creative director from 1988 to 1995. After living in Paris for several years, Talley returned to Vogue in 1998 to take on his current role.
After graduating from Brown University with a Masters degree in French Studies, Talley went on to work with Andy Warhol at Interview. From there, he began to forge a career in the world of high style, working closely with some of the most celebrated names in fashion, the arts, and Hollywood. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, Talley’s work with legendary style authority and his professed mentor in life, Diana Vreeland, served to confirm his interest in fashion. Like Bennie Frances-Davis, the grandmother who raised him, Mrs. Vreeland became one of Talley’s primary life inspirations.
Talley’s intimate relationship with both his grandmother and Mrs. Vreeland is detailed in his autobiography, A.L.T: a Memoir. Talley’s second book, A.L.T. 365+, is an art monograph compiled of photos taken by Talley using hundreds of disposable cameras. The book chronicles one year in his life, offering a rare and candid glimpse of the people and places he encounters in his work and travels. In addition to his work at Vogue, Talley is a member of the board of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, where a lifetime-achievement award has been named for him.
He is also the 2003 recipient of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Eugenia Sheppard Award for Excellence in Fashion Journalism. Talley is an active member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem where he is closely involved with fund-raising on behalf of the church and its programs, as well as on behalf of the Harlem community as a whole.
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