The Chiffon Trenches

I 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.

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.

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.

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

André Leon Talley was the indomitable creative director at Vogue during the magazine s rising dominance as the world s fashion bible. Over the course of five decades, his byline also appeared in Vanity Fair, HG, Interview, and Women s Wear Daily. He was the author of two memoirs, The Chiffon Trenches and A.L.T., and several illustrated works, including Little Black Dress, A.L.T.: 365+, and Oscar de la Renta: His Legendary World of Style. André was also the subject of the documentary The Gospel According to André. For his significant contributions to the arts, he was granted France s distinguished honor of Chevalier 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.

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
 
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

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 black body. Dr. Janis A. Mayes, African/Diasporan Francophone Studies, Syracuse University
 
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.