Supermodel Naomi Campbell, business mogul Kimora Lee Simmons, and TV personality Gayle King were among some of the big-named attendees of iconic fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley’s star-studded funeral.
The funeral took place at Talley’s longtime house of prayer, The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, on Apr. 29. Its invitation-only guest list of 1,100 people also included one of the late journalist’s closest friends, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, luxury designers Marc Jacobs, Diane Von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, model Karlie Kloss, business tycoon Martha Stewart, music executive Steve Stout, socialite Derek Blasberg, and others.
Campbell, Wintour, Jacobs, Herrera, and Von Furstenberg each gave emotional tributes to Talley during his funeral. Campbell and Wintour, in particular, were reportedly in tears.
Founder and president of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, Paula Wallace, also gave a heartfelt eulogy for her dear friend. He earned an honorary doctorate from the college back in 2008 and was previously awarded their first-lifetime achievement award in fashion in 2001. At the time, Talley had served on the Savannah College of Art and Design board of trustees for over 13 years. There has also been a gallery created in his honor at the school’s Museum of Art.
The North Carolina-reared fashion giant tragically passed away at 73 on Jan. 18. The news broke a day later via a post on his official Instagram page.
“It is with great sadness we announce the passing of André Leon Talley on Jan. 18, 2022, in New York. Mr. Talley was the larger-than-life, longtime creative director at Vogue during its rise to dominance as the world’s fashion bible,” the post indicated.
However, his cause of death has not been revealed to the public.
Talley, a Brown University graduate, was appointed as the creative director of Vogue in 1983 and then as the magazine’s editor-at-large in 1998 until his tenure ended in 2013. He also earned many accolades, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Republic in 2020 and the North Carolina Governor’s award for literature in 2021.
In addition, he penned two memoirs titled A.L.T, which was released in 2003, and The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir, which was released in 2021.
In an interview for The Tamron Hall Show that year, Talley shockingly revealed that he earned $600,000 less than his white counterparts during his 30-year-career at Vogue.
“I made almost $300,000, but people on the same level, maybe they were doing more work than the fashion photoshoots, were making $900,000 a year…but this is what comes when you live in America. When you’re a Black person, you have to wake up, and you go, ‘that’s a double standard,'” he continued.
Despite this, he was still one of the most accomplished, celebrated, and memorable personalities in the fashion world and popular culture since the ’80s.
Talley became well-known to the newer generation of fashion enthusiasts through his popular Met Gala interviews of today’s hottest stars, including Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Jaden Smith, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Zoe Kravitz, and many more.
