Fern Mallis remembers an evening with André Leon Talley

Fern Mallis writes:

The fashion industry is a quirky and unusual world, filled with great talents, huge egos, and bigger personalities. It is a fragile ecosystem that creates personas and cults that are sometimes larger than life. There are a handful of players often called crazy or obsessed, mentors or muses, gurus or guardians. I was so thrilled to host one of these very special individuals at Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis in 2013: André Leon Talley.

André worked alongside some of the most important and enduring fashion legends of all time, and he learned about fashion and style from two women: his grandmother Bennie, who raised him with love and humility, and Diana Vreeland, who took him under her exotic wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His presence was extraordinary; at events he held court, whether on a shoot, or nurturing a designer behind the scenes, or sitting prominently in the middle of the chaos of a Manolo Blahnik sample sale advising frenetic ladies what looked good on their precious feet.

Tom Ford said of André: “He is one of the last great fashion editors, and has an incredible sense of fashion history. He can see through everything you do to the original reference and predict what was on your inspiration board.”

His evening at The 92nd Street Y was a “who’s who” night in the fashion industry, with his many A-List friends filling Kaufmann Concert Hall: Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Grace Coddington, Bethann Hardison, and even Bette Midler! Let’s revisit that night, and watch André share the story behind his journey to become a Fashion Icon.

Watch Fashion Icons with André Leon Talley