The Chiffon Trenches von André Leon Talley
A Memoir

Kategorie: Bücher
Seiten / Format: 304 S
Erscheinungsjahr: 2021
Verlag: Penguin Random HouseBallantine Books
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN: 9780593129272

The joy of reading about André Leon Talley s journey in The Chiffon Trenches is coupled with knowing that he survived and thrived by being revered and respected by those at every level of fashion. That never goes out of style.Tamron Hall, award-winning journalist and host of Tamron Hall<br> <br>André Leon Talley s fantastic memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, is a riveting, enthralling, and heartbreaking read, tracing the incredible arc of his life from growing up in the Jim Crow South to what it took for him to come to New York and, thanks to his vast talent and work ethic, gain the respect and recognition of the legends of his day, including Diana Vreeland, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, and Anna Wintour. André has lived life at the epicenter of the most glamourous worlds of fashion in both Paris and New York; and now this book is one more chapter in his amazing legacy.Wendy Goodman, design editor of New York<br><br>André Leon Talley is the preeminent fashion historian of his generation. His rare quality of mind and the depth of his knowledge infuse The Chiffon Trenches with a spirited voice, keen sensibility, and cultural intellect. The poly-sonic narrative incorporates histories of styles and collections; reveals fashion politics imbued with racism, power plays, fears, and ignorance; and describes with compelling honesty the impact of these forces on his blackbody.Dr. Janis A. Mayes, African/Diasporan Francophone Studies, Syracuse University<br> <br>The Chiffon Trenches chronicles the remarkable life of trailblazing fashion icon André Leon Talley as he breaks new ground in an industry rife with racism, prejudice, and bias. An honest, candid memoir full of vulnerable and authentic reflections on some of the most historic fashion moments of the twentieth century.A diorama of fashion royalty populates this intelligent memoir by an inimitable legend.Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation<br> <br>I literally could not stop reading The Chiffon TrenchesI started reading in the afternoon and finished the same evening. Everyone in the fashion world will be reading this book whether they admit it or not.Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology<br> <br>André Leon Talley has transcended the fashion industry by showing each of us how he has tamed his own genius to become a one-of-a-kind unique leader. Read this book if you want to be entertained, educated, enlightened, and most of all taught how to step out of the crowd to become your own true and authentic self.Marc Benioff, chairman and owner ofTime<br><br>Talley s unrivaled knowledge, extraordinary eye for spotting raw talent, and ahead of the curve ability to clearly define what makes a good dress draws you in from page one. An insightful and intelligent read, conveyed in a way only he could.Manolo BlahnikI was born in a now-torn-down hospital on the edge of tony, affluent Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Two months after my arrival, my parents, Alma and William Carroll Talley, took me to my grandmother s house in Durham, North Carolina, the center of the tobacco industry. My parents were young, and as was typical in Southern black households, it was decided I would live with my grandmother, Bennie Frances Davis, as my parents sought careers in the nation s capital. I called my grandmother Mama.<br><br>Mama and I lived with my great-grandmother China. Both widows, they coupled pension checks and my grandmother s salary from being a domestic maid at the men s campus of Duke University, as well as supplemental income from my parents, to make a house that operated on organization, faith, God, and maintenance. As a young child I was given duties: dusting, collecting coal for the stoves, and gathering kindling from the woodshed, as well as washing dishes after meals.<br><br>There was churchgoing, and there was churchgoing: Sunday school; vacation Bible school; homecoming celebrations; baptisms in the rain-filled concrete pool constructed just beyond the churchyard cemetery.<br><br>I went to Lyon Park elementary school, which was just down the street from our home. I had close family bonds and my favorite cousins were my best friends. Most of the time, I managed to avoid the cruel bullies at school and in the neighborhood. I do, however, remember vividly staying home from school on a rare snow day and proudly building a three-tiered snowman in our front yard, complete with coal eyes, a carrot nose, and coal lips. I went into the kitchen at lunchtime, where my great-grandmother China was heating up a can of Campbell s chicken noodle soup for me. By the time I put on my coat and returned outside, the neighborhood kids had destroyed my freshly constructed snowman. I turned around, went back inside, and sulked. What could I do? My grandmother s mother couldn t come out and take up my defense, and I had no desire to chase down and confront the vandals.<br><br>Young people can be very mean. When I would get upset, my uncle Lewis used to say to me, Just keep on getting up. Get up every day and just keep going. It was some of the best advice I ve ever been given.<br><br>At an early age, I found my fantasy world in books and records, classical music, Nina Simone, Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross. In my aunt Myra s country house, I found a book on the disaster of the Titanic, the luxury ocean liner that was never supposed to sink. The wealthy and the middle-class went to their deaths in the cold seas. Every time I went to visit Aunt Myra, I picked up this book; it resonated as something in my mind s eye that was outside the norm of my everyday existence.<br><br>My favorite retreat was the city library in downtown Durham, North Carolina. By the age of twelve, I had read every magazine and book I had come across. My world became the glossy pages ofVogue, where I could read about Truman Capote s legendary ball, given at the Plaza, in honor of Katharine Graham. And Gloria Vanderbilt, in her patchwork antique quilts with Elizabethan ruffs, created by Adolfo. I loved seeing her photographed in her simple Mainbocher suits or the exotic Fortuny pleated gowns she kept folded in special coils, like snakes, to keep the silk vibrant. I dreamed of meeting Naomi Sims and Pat Cleveland, and living a life like the ones I saw in the pages ofVogue, where bad things never happened. Blue spring skies lent my grandmother s rosebushes a glorious color in our front yard. Summers were spent picking wild blackberries, watching cardinals zoom around our house, and having wonderful, delicious dinners, cooked all day and eaten at five-thirty. Food was our luxury simple, good, home-cooked food. Every day, there were fresh-cooked homemade meals. Sometimes we ateNEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER From the pages ofVogueto the runways of Paris, thiscaptivating (Time)memoir by a legendary style icon captures the fashion world from the inside out, in its most glamorous and most cutthroat moments.<br><br>The Chiffon Trencheshonestly and candidly captures fifty sublime years of fashion. Manolo Blahnik<br><br>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPRFortuneGarden&GunNew York Post<br><br>During André Leon Talley s first magazine job, alongside Andy Warhol atInterview,a fateful meeting with Karl Lagerfeld began a decades-long friendship with the enigmatic, often caustic designer. Propelled into the upper echelons by his knowledge and adoration of fashion, André moved to Paris as bureau chief of John Fairchild sWomen s Wear Daily,befriending fashion's most important designers (Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta). But as André made friends, he also made enemies. A racially tinged encounter with a member of the house of Yves Saint Laurent sent him back to New York and into the offices ofVogueunder Grace Mirabella.<br><br>There, he eventually became creative director, developing an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour. As she rose to the top ofVogues masthead, André also ascended, and soon became the most influential man in fashion.<br><br>The Chiffon Trenchesoffers a candid look at the who s who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how André not only survived the brutal style landscape but thrived despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry to become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion.<br><br>Woven throughout the book are also André s own personal struggles that impacted him over the decades, along with intimate stories of those he turned to for inspiration (Diana Vreeland, Diane von Fürstenberg, Lee Radziwill, to name a few), and of course his Southern roots and faith, which guided him since childhood.<br><br>The result is a highly compelling read that captures the essence of a world few of us will ever have real access to, but one that we all want to know oh so much more about.2USAndré Leon Talleywas the indomitable creative director atVogueduring the magazine s rising dominance as the world s fashion bible. Over the course of five decades, his byline also appeared inVanity Fair, HG, Interview, andWomen s Wear Daily. He was the author of two memoirs,The Chiffon TrenchesandA.L.T.,and several illustrated works, includingLittle Black Dress,A.L.T.: 365+,andOscar de la Renta: His Legendary World of Style. André was also the subject of the documentaryThe Gospel According to André. For his significant contributions to the arts, he was granted France s distinguished honor ofChevalier de l Ordre des Arts et des Lettres(Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters). He received his MA in French studies from Brown and served on the board of trustees for the Savannah College of Art and Design for twenty years. André Leon Talley died in 2022.

0 Shares Tweet0 Pins