As the fashion industry and the world over mourn the passing of the trailblazing icon, André Leon Talley, we are left with his words, stories, and the many ways he made this world more colorful. The fashion and design aesthete is an immeasurable part of the global fashion industry—both past and present—changing the way we narrate fashion. Much like his mentor, Diana Vreeland, André was known for his colorful vocabulary. Inventing words and phrases to emote his thoughts, telling beautifully curated stories and parables, witty anecdotes, and profound statements. As much a pop-culture figure as a staple in fashion, André cemented his place in fashion history with not only his expressive exploration of fashion but by living his life out loud. His grandiose, over-the-top rhetoric is forever minded into the fashion zeitgeist.
Let’s revisit some of his iconic sayings, quotes, and fashion anecdotes below:
Dreckitude:
Definition: drek, which means a wreck!
André joined the judges’ panel of America’s Next Top Model in 2010 and was known for his exuberant lexicon—including the now-iconic André concocted word; “dreckitude.”
Famine of beauty:
“So far, it’s been a bleak streak over here in America! You know what? It’s a famine of beauty. The famine of beauty, honey! My eyes are starving for beauty!” —This is just but one of the many iconic lines from Talley’s on-screen time in “The September Issue”, the 2009 Vogue insider documentary directed by R.J. Cutler.
“This Man Has no money”
“Fashion is hard work. Gritty. It’s not glamorous.” Quite the celebrity in his own right, André made a cameo in the 1995 fashion documentary “Catwalk” where he offered sage wisdom on the often misconceptions associated with working in fashion. You can watch the documentary for free on YouTube (Watch the whole thing because it’s required reading for any fashion lover—but find André’s iconic quote timestamped at 34:55).
Paris is like Mount Olympus
“Milan is great. Milan is fantastic. New York is fantastic. You go to Paris for it’s like going to Mount Olympus. You just — the buttons in Paris, you know, they’ve got people who can still make buttons by hand and embroider them. That’s a big thing in fashion”—While on the Charlie Rose Show in 2003 to discuss his first autobiography, “A.L.T.: A Memoir” he spits off many beautiful anecdotes about fashion, dress, and his upbringing. Watch the interview here.
Ok, darling? it’s about the gloves
“The world has become too casual, and people have become lazy. There was a time when people went on the plane with airplane gloves. It’s about the gloves, OK darling? It’s about gloves.”—one of the many iconic takeaways from an in-depth piece in Vanity fair.
And the many, many iconic quotes…
“People need to be edited; life needs to be edited. I need to be edited.”
“Wearing clothes should be a personal narrative of emotion. I always respond to fashion in an emotional way.”
“I used to shellac my Vuitton bags on the weekends for fun.”
