André Leon Talley has been a large caped presence at every major fashion event for decades now. Thanks in part to his (seemingly) tight relationship with the Queen Bee of fashion, Anna Wintour.
You probably recall she was the (not so secret) inspiration for the bitch boss in The Devil Wears Prada, so perhaps Andy should have seen her wrath coming.
Daily Mail obtained a copy of André’s upcoming book, “The Chiffon Trenches”. The 70-year-old former editor-at-large of Vogue is dishing the details of his once-close friendship with Anna.
In the book, André says he has “huge emotional and psychological scars” after working with the Vogue editor for decades. He writes Anna is “not capable of simple human kindness” and “she is immune to anyone other than the powerful and famous people who populate the pages of Vogue.” André is a fashion icon in his own right and started working for Vogue in 1983.
André explains where his relationship with Anna started to go south. In 2016, he started hosting a Vogue podcast that featured celebrity guests. The show was a success, but he took issue with only being paid $500 per episode. The podcast was suddenly canned without explanation.
In early 2018, he was ready to start preparing for his regular Met Gala red carpet interviews. He says nobody reached out to him about the gig. He called the office and was told the job was “beneath” him even though had had done it for years. He realized it was a sign that he was being pushed out.
He writes, “This was clearly a stone-cold business decision. I had suddenly become too old, too overweight, too uncool, I imagined, for Anna Wintour. After decades of loyalty and friendships…Anna should have had the decency and kindness to call me or send me an email saying: ‘Andre, I think we have had a wonderful run with your interviews but we are going to try something new.”
“She has mercilessly made her best friends people who are the highest in their chosen fields. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Mr. and Mrs. George Clooney are, to her, friends. I am no longer of value to her.”
Honestly, if that’s the worst of things, he needs to spend time with teenage girls. He’ll be crying in minutes.
Still the book should be interesting. I’m looking forward to it.