André Leon Talley’s Most Inspiring Quotes

André Leon Talley was a force of nature in fashion. He died on January 18, after suffering from a heart attack. Talley was 73.

The legendary, veteran fashion journalist, Paris correspondent and the first black Vogue editor, changed the way we look at clothes, fashion and how we have come to identify with our personal style. His career, which spanned five decades, he offered rare insight into the works of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, two designers he became close with, and wrote for Vanity Fair, Interview Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, among others.

Among his books, his memoir The Chiffon Trenches detailed the profound influence of his grandmother on his life, his upbringing in the segregated South, and his life as one of the key fashion journalists in New York and Paris, a city he loved as a lifelong student of the French language. He carried elegance everywhere he went.

Talley was also the subject of a recent documentary called The Gospel According to André, which follows his unlikely story of overcoming insurmountable odds in life. Here are some of his most inspiring quotes, Andre-isms, that capture his personality.

• The zenith of elegance in any woman’s wardrobe is the little black dress, the power of which suggests dash and refinement.
• When I have interns, I always say, ‘Handwritten thank-you notes can make a difference.’ People remember that – not an e-mail, a handwritten note in an envelope.
• I went to Brown University to be a French professor, and I didn't know what I was doing, except that I loved French. When I got to Paris, and I could speak French, I know how much it helped me to establish relationships with Karl Lagerfeld, with the late Yves Saint Laurent. French, it just helps you if you're in fashion. The French people started style.
• I had this documentary done on me, The Gospel According to André. It came out two years ago, and it was so well-received. People loved it and were so moved by the story that it gave me the confidence to write a book. That is the reason I wrote it. I took a risk to have that documentary crew follow me around for a year and a half. It was quite annoying, but it turned out to be wonderful. And the reception of the people—strangers, young people, old people, black people, white people—it was so marvelous that it gave me the inspiration. 
• I know what it is like to be brought up with unconditional love. In my life that came from my grandmother.

• When you're in the trenches, you're fighting a war. You're going to fight a war to win and survive. You're going to come out a victor or in defeat.
• I’d like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of young people – that I nurtured someone and taught them to pursue their dreams and their careers, to leave a legacy.
• I always gravitated to people who were also walking encyclopedias.
• I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine.
• I take my story with me wherever I go. The past is always in the present.
• I have always looked for mother and father figures. I had to look up to something to go forward.
• People have forgotten in this world today how to behave properly. People don’t have manners anymore. They’re rude in public, they’re rude in their communications.
• Tradition is everything, and you cannot forget traditions. You cannot forget going to church. Every day you go to church, that impresses me. It gives you strength. Darling, clothes are not important in this pandemic. What’s important is your strength that comes from your faith, your values. All of that is very ingrained in you, so therefore, you can survive.

• I do believe there’s a heaven. I do believe that God has given me the resilience and the survival skills to withstand the chiffon trenches.
• You can be an aristocrat without being born into an aristocratic family.
• I like the idea of being warm and secure. That’s what home should be. That you have a sense of warmth, security, love, and you love the things around you and surround yourself with beauty.
• I love people - it is not the fashion, it is the people in fashion, I love.
• One of my favorite things to do is go to the provinces of Russia and see the 18th century wood churches with the onion dome architecture. These humble wonders of incredible imagination of architects, that were obviously not living in places like Paris or London, but they've created these amazing churches.
• I have four bedrooms in my house. One is for guests, the other three are for closets.
• You come to Paris, you get true originality, and it's wonderful.
• Luxury is to be able to take control of one's life, health and the pursuit of happiness in a way that is joyful.
• The most luxurious item is a beautiful bed and beautiful, simple sheets.
• People love fashion exhibits because they can fantasize. They can respond to a dress, even if they can never wear a dress like that.

• Wealth is based on values and traditions.
• There are no more Elizabeth Taylors. You could be fascinated by her, she lived so many lives, she loved the jewels, she had gaudy taste but she had extraordinary talent.
• It's incorrect to assume you can be a fashion editor because you blog, if you don't have experience to look at fashion in a professional way.
• If you're going to be a model, what's going to get you the job on a go-see and makes you stand out, it might not be your lipstick or your portfolio or what you're wearing, it might come from your core being.
• At the end of the rainbow that has led me to a successful career in the world of fashion…I find that the things that are most important to me are not the gossamer and gilt of the world I live in now, but my deep Southern roots…what matters is a sense of place, a sense of self.
• I have fought quietly to impact the culture.
• My story is a fairytale of excess, and in every fairytale there is evil and darkness, but you overcome it with light. I want every person I come across – the stranger on the street, the church member in the pew next to me – to feel love. I have not been privy to love in my life, but I want them to feel that they have received some love from engaging with me, André Leon Talley.