Fashion icon Andre Leon Talley has died, aged 73. The pioneering editor and creative director passed away on Tuesday in White Plains, New York, after suffering a heart attack.
Known for his fabulous sense of style, high-profile A-list friendships and larger-than-life personality, Talley wrote two memoirs in his time, “A.L.T.: A Memoir” in 2003 and “The Chiffon Trenches” in 2020, served as a judge over four seasons of “America’s Next Top Model” and was the center of the 2017 documentary, “The Gospel According to André.”
The former Vogue editor served as the publication’s news director from 1983 until 1987, and then as creative director from 1988 until 1995. He worked as editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s right-hand, before eventually leaving Vogue in 1995 and moving to Paris, where he returned to W Magazine after working at the publication earlier in his career.
Talley never spoke publicly about his health, but in March 2021, he thanked fans for their “outpouring of love and concern” on Twitter back in March of last year.
I cannot thank you all enough for your outpouring of love and concern. I am healthy in mind and spirit and am quite grateful for the many messages from dear friends and extended community.
— Andre Leon Talley (@OfficialALT) March 3, 2021
The fashion world has already begun paying tributes online. Diane Von Furstenberg took to Instagram sharing a throwback of the duo from a few decade ago. “A fashion giant has passed away,” she wrote. “Rest in paradise dear André Leon Talley.”
