The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley

Recently my sister, Kathleen, sent me a picture of a bottle of army green nail polish, and asked if it was a good choice for fall. Whenever I have a question about a style or a trend, I go right to my friend Jennifer because she is the doyenne of all things fashionable. I sent her the picture of the polish, and she texted “I wouldn’t do green. Too much!” without a moment’s hesitation. She not only knows about style, she also reads about it. Recently she let me borrow her copy of “The Chiffon Trenches” a memoir by Andre Leon Talley, an American journalist and former creative director of “Vogue” Magazine. Reading Talley’s book was like going to the hippest nightclub in New York and running into Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar De La Renta, Anna Wintour, Diana Vreeland and more. Standing at 6 feet 6 inches tall, Talley started his writing career at Warhol’s “Interview” magazine. He then moved to Paris to be the bureau chief for “Women’s Wear Daily,” and was soon promoted to the creative director of “Vogue” under the notorious Wintour. His successful career in fashion was a far cry from his childhood in Durham, North Carolina, where his grandmother raised him and worked as a cleaning lady at Duke University. He never forgot where he came from and tried to approach life in New York and Paris with a kind, open heart and positive attitude. Unfortunately, people in the fashion world can be cruel, and Talley’s memoir details a series of broken friendships, cold shoulders, blatant racism, cruel body shaming and other disappointments. Despite the hard times he faced in fashion, you get the feeling he chose the right profession, rather than the French teacher he intended to become after getting his master’s from Brown University. At 72 years old, he seems to have few regrets. He is still standing tall, smiling and chic in his bespoke caftans. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.