Anna Wintour Pays Tribute to 'Loving Friend' Andre Leon Talley

Anna Wintour is honoring her longtime Vogue colleague and close friend Andre Leon Talley.

The legendary creative director and fashion journalist passed away on Tuesday (January 18) at the age of 73.

Anna, who worked with Andre for years at Vogue, reflected on their friendship and his legacy in the fashion industry in an obituary published on Vogue‘s website.

Click inside to find out what she said…

“The loss of André 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 new discovery of André‘s, which he would discuss loudly, and volubly — no one could make people more excited about the most seemingly insignificant fashion details than him. Even his stream of colorful faxes and emails were a highly anticipated event, something we all looked forward to,” she began.

“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,” Anna continued.

She added, “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 to my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss so much.”

Andre and Anna‘s friendship was strained after he was replaced as a host on the Met Gala’s red carpet. He described their relationship as “icy” in an interview with Gayle King in 2020.

However, he also called his memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, a “love letter” to the Vogue editor-in-chief.

“This is a painful thing for me, but it is a love letter because it’s a love letter about the joys as well as the lows of my life,” Andre said at the time. “And the joys of my life have been with Anna Wintour.”