NEW YORK — The barriers-breaking fashion journalist André Leon Talley liked to make his presence known, and fittingly his persona was very much on full display at Christie’s Thursday night.
The occasion was a celebration of Christie’s upcoming live and online auction of “The Collection of André Leon Talley,” and many of the few hundred guests dressed stylishly as a nod to the fashion insider. It was selfie-city in several of the auction house’s galleries where guests posed in front of portraits of Talley and an array of his personal belongings, including towers of “ALT” monogrammed Louis Vuitton trunks, glittery jewels and an abundance of his dramatic caftans.
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Several of the attendees had personal bonds with Talley, who died last year at the age of 73, while others knew him only by name or from afar. Despite that, they spoke of how the former WWD Paris bureau chief and American Vogue creative director, who was the first Black person to take on that post, inspired them and indirectly spurred them on in their own careers.
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Lindsay Peoples, Vera Wang, Zac Posen, Candace Marie Stewart, Alioune Fall, Brandice Daniel, Aoki Lee Simmons, Al Roker, Deborah Roberts, TK Wonder, Kingsley Gbadegesin, Hannah Bronfman, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Elaine Welteroth, Amy Fine Collins, Bob Colacello, Robin Givhan, Teri Agins, Alexis Thomas, Igee Okafor and others checked out the collection, which is on view through Tuesday. Members of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, where Talley regularly attended services, provided a rousing performance before the cocktail party.
Vera Wang, who first met Talley in her early days in fashion when he was working for WWD, said, “Then he went to Vanity Fair and went to Vogue. The rest is kind of history — that’s how far back we go.”
Wang said, “He was like my brother. I was speaking with one of his assistants and apparently one of the things that he wrote in his memoirs was that he wanted his coffin designed by me,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment. But it was so cute. He was really there for me, like so many people.”
Roberts, an ABC journalist, recalled going to lunch with her “Today” show weatherman husband at the Midtown media-centric eatery Michael’s and seeing Talley upon arrival. “I was feeling particularly happy that day because it was spring and I had this Chanel jacket on and a pair of jeans. He looked at me and he said, ‘Hey, hey, hey Deborah, I like this. I like this [imitating how Talley nodded and pointed a finger up and down flatteringly].’ I felt so excited because I had André’s approval. If André liked what you were wearing, you were good.”
Although Fall never had the chance to meet Talley, he said many admired him for his personality. “I used to watch a lot of fashion documentaries and I would never see anyone who was Black or somebody who looked like me. There wasn’t anyone who had at least a voice, or would hear other opinions. His presence invited the community as one. With his personality, you knew exactly what he was saying. That’s really the best key to have as a human being.”
Harlem Fashion Row founder Daniel recalled that after moving to New York from the South — as Talley had years before — she read “A.L.T.: A Memoir.” “Reading that book made me feel that I could accomplish something significant in fashion. To be here tonight and see all of his things is incredibly inspiring. It’s also sad in a way. He is definitely missed. There will be no replacement. But it is nice to see the type of diverse crowd that he has brought out.”
Regarding the evening bittersweetness, Daniel said, “I wish he would have felt this type of love and appreciation, while he was still here.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s former front woman Nancy Chilton first met Talley at an appointment at Ralph Lauren, where she was working at the time. “He had just come from reading [aloud] to Mrs. [Diana] Vreeland because she had lost her eyesight.” Her favorite Talley moment though was a public Q&A at The Met with the museum’s Andrew Bolton about the Rei Kawakubo exhibition. “He had a lot of opinions about what they were talking about. Then at the end, he sat on the stage and talked to every single person who came up from the audience for over an hour. There were little kids sitting on his lap. His fan club was immense.”
Thursday night’s strong turnout could bode well for the Talley auction, which has a pre-sale estimate of $702,200 to $1.04 million. Bonnie Brennan, president of Christie’s Americas, said the best part of the philanthropic sale is that it is “a real look into his life – his personal journey, relationships with people like Diane von Furstenberg, [Karl] Lagerfeld and [Andy] Warhol. He really felt that fashion was such a personal expression. This shows you that, whether it’s what he wore or what he collected.”
The Talley sale — which consists of 60-plus lots for the live sale and 350 lots for the online sale — will benefit causes that he supported, including the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and Mount Sinai Baptist Church in his home state of North Carolina. “Many people think of him as a fashion icon and not necessarily a philanthropist. But he really was. He was also a great mentor. He sent the young designer LaQuan Smith with thousands of dollars in cash, because he said, ‘You have to go to Paris.’ He was a very generous person. We’ve all learned a lot about those different sides to him. He was very curious and so intellectual,” Brennan said.
Another Christie’s executive, Deidrea Miller, said that growing up as a Southerner, she was inspired by Talley. “This Black man, who was traveling around the world and was extremely educated, was such an inspiration to me at a time, when there really weren’t any Black people doing these things. He showed a lot of people what was possible.”