From monogrammed luggage to unerring faith, a sale of Talley’s belongings shows the caring, complicated man behind the unforgettable image
If you’re in the market for a size 13 pair of Manolo Blahnik snakeskin evening slippers edged with crimson satin ribbon, then 15 February could be your lucky day. At an auction at Christie’s in New York of the personal estate of André Leon Talley, the former American Vogue creative director who died last year, they might be yours for a guide price of £400. A Chanel navy silk faille opera coat could be snapped up for about £3,000 (scattered “sun damage” is noted), while two extra-large Birkin bags look a steal at £4,000. There are no fewer than 29 Louis Vuitton trunks up for grabs (including one that made a cameo appearance in 2008’s Sex and the City film), along with a Prada coat in white crocodile and an orange liveried Hermès bike that Talley never rode but kept in storage at the Ritz in Paris.
When Talley died, the gaudy inventory of his possessions and tales of unpaid rent and a painful exile at the hand of Anna Wintour seemed to paint an operatic, bittersweet portrait of an overdressed and overwrought figure. But Talley was a more creative, more interesting, smarter and kinder person than any of that. Having grown up poor and black in the still-segregated US south, he won a full college scholarship and graduated with a master’s degree in French from Brown University. He forged a pioneering path to become the first person of colour to reach the highest ranks of Vogue, and his death at the age of 73 left a king-size void on the front row. And, in an elegant twist that Talley would have adored, it is the luxury wardrobe on which he splashed his fortune that will serve to portray him in a more flattering light.
