André Leon Talley shocked to hear he had ‘worst reputation in town’

Early in his career, André Leon Talley was horrified to learn that he had a reputation for being a fashion groupie.

“When I was at [Women’s Wear Daily,] at moments there were some problems,” recalled the former Vogue staffer after a screening of a new film on his life, “The Gospel According to André.” “Because I was so busy in Paris — embracing the great Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Karl Lagerfeld — my editor came to me and said, ‘You’ve got the worst reputation in town. You have slept in every designer bed there is.’ ”

But Talley insisted at the Tribeca Film Festival screening that he’s made it because “what I project is originality . . . The sexual orientation was not pronounced. It was not thrown or thrust in the face aggressively. I never really thought about myself as a ‘black gay man’ in the industry. I thought of myself as a human being in the industry.”

Source: Read Full Article