Iconic American André Leon Talley is considered one of the most-outstanding fashion writers and authors of this era.
Born on October 16, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Talley was the former creative director and American editor-at-large of Vogue magazine.
He acted as the magazine’s fashion news director from 1983 to 1987 and then its creative director from 1988 to 1995.
Talley has a film background too. He starred in films and documentaries, including serving as the focus of 2017’s The Gospel According To Andre, and authored three books.
What did Andre Leon Talley do at Vogue? What did Andre Leon Talley do?
Talley was fired at Vogue in 2018 and was replaced as the host of the Met Gala. He was replaced by a young YouTube star, Liza Koshy.
Explaining what happened at Vogue before he was fired in a May 2021 interview, he told The Tamron Hall Show he had a conflict with authorities at the magazines over his annual salary.
“I just found out two weeks ago from someone of authority that women at Vogue, high, high rate fashion editors made close to a million dollars,” Talley explained.
“I never made that much in a year. I made almost $300,000, but people on the same level, maybe they were doing more work than the fashion photoshoots, were making $900,000 a year.”
“They don’t make that anymore,” Talley continued, “but this is, this what comes when you live in America, when you’re a Black person, you have to wake up and you know there’s a double standard.”
Why was Andre Leon Talley fired from Vogue?
Talley and longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour fell out in 2018.
This was after Talley discovered he was no longer doing the red-carpet interviews at the annual Met Gala, or those for Vogue’s podcast.
“What could this talented YouTuber offer? Surely she didn’t know what a martingale back is to a Balenciaga one-seamed coat,” Talley told Irish Times.
