André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 – January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, author, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine.

[4] His parents left him to be raised by his maternal grandmother, Bennie Francis Davis, who worked as a cleaning lady at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina.

His early love of fashion was nurtured by his grandmother and further cultivated upon his discovery of Vogue magazine at a local library[citation needed] at the age of nine or ten.

[10] Through the student connections he made in Providence, Rhode Island, he apprenticed, unpaid, for Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1974.

[7] Thoroughly impressed by his skills, the Vogue editor arranged for Talley to work at Andy Warhol's Factory and Interview magazine[11] for $50 a week.

[29][30] Reviewing the film, Variety said: "The documentary is a deeply loving, frequently beautiful testament to the former Vogue editor, who rose from humble beginnings in North Carolina to become arguably the high fashion world's first major African-American tastemaker, as well as the type of multi-lingual, Russian-lit-citing public intellectual who is perfectly at ease gossiping on TV with Wendy Williams.

[5] In 2018, fashion critic Robin Givhan wrote that church attendance was among the chief elements that "influence the way he judges beauty and prioritizes grace.

[28] In his memoir, Talley claims he chose binge eating as a means of coping with grief as well as unresolved childhood trauma.

He eventually lost a great deal of weight and continued to prioritize exercise and well-being by frequenting the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in the late 2010s.

[7][35] In his final years, Talley would hold court and eat nearly all of his meals at the City Limits Diner near his home in White Plains, New York.

[41][42] Many of these long flowing vestments were custom-made for him by his famous designer friends including Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Rucci, Valentino, and Dapper Dan.

"[46] In the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, the character Nigel Kipling portrayed by Stanley Tucci is widely regarded as a depiction of Talley.

[48][49] "He also was very involved in fighting for more diversity on the runway, for more Black models", New York Fashion Week creator Fern Mallis said.

Before meeting him, I had never experienced such a prolific person serving up a rare mix of fashion 'fabulousness' and real down-home southern comfort love.

He made me smile, laugh and was a masterful teacher – a genius historian, scholar, colleague, effervescent spirit, legend…you are resting now, Dearest Andre.

"[62] Michelle Obama posted: "André Leon Talley was a one-of-a-kind presence who changed the face of fashion and beauty for a generation of girls just like me.

[66] Other figures who paid tribute to Talley included Beyoncé,[67] Viola Davis, Diane von Fürstenberg,[68] Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey,[69] Jeremy O. Harris, Edward Enninful,[70] Zendaya and Rihanna.

Talley's memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, topped Amazon's fashion best-sellers chart and sold out at several book stores following the news of his death.

[71] In 2023, during her Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, Rihanna paid tribute to Talley by wearing a full-length, red Alaïa puffer similar to the Norma Kamali Sleeping Bag coat he wore.