Fashion Icon and Former Vogue Editor-at-large, Andre Leon Talley dies at 73

Fashion icon and former Vogue editor, André Leon Talley has died at age 73, a statement released on his official Instagram confirmed this.

“It is with great sadness we announce the passing of André Leon Talley on January 18, 2022, in New York,” the statement read. “Mr. Talley was the larger-than-life, longtime creative director at Vogue during its rise to dominance as the world’s fashion bible.”

Vogue said in its obituary that he died of a heart attack.

Talley was an American fashion journalist known for his work in shaping U.S. Vogue and fashion as a whole. He was the magazine’s fashion news director from 1983 to 1987 and its creative director from 1988 to 1995. He was later made editor-at-large, a position he held until 2013.

Fashion figures, including designers and models, have also paid tribute.

“The loss of Andre is felt by so many of us today: the designers he enthusiastically cheered on every season, and who loved him for it; the generations he inspired to work in the industry, seeing a figure who broke boundaries while never forgetting where he started from; those who knew fashion, and Vogue, simply because of him; and, not forgetting, the multitude of colleagues over the years who were consistently buoyed by every discovery of Andre’s, which he would discuss loudly, and volubly — no one could make people more excited about the most seemingly insignificant fashion details than him,” said Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in a statement.

“Even his stream of colorful faxes and emails were a highly anticipated event, something we all looked forward to,” she continued. “Yet it’s the loss of Andre as my colleague and friend that I think of now; it’s immeasurable. He was magnificent and erudite and wickedly funny — mercurial, too. Like many decades-long relationships, there were complicated moments, but all I want to remember today, all I care about, is the brilliant and compassionate man who was a generous and loving friend to me and my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss so much.”

May His soul rest in peace.