REMEMBERING ANDRÉ: The life of the late pioneering fashion journalist and author André Leon Talley will be celebrated Friday morning at a private ceremony at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Manhattan.
Talley, who died in January at the age of 73, forged new paths in the industry during a decades-long career that included stops at Interview magazine, Women’s Wear Daily and his tenure at Vogue as its longtime creative director, as well Numero Russia and Vanity Fair. A swath of friends, fellow designers, industry executives and family members will be out in force at the event, which is being held in the historic landmark church where Talley attended services.
Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts 3rd will officiate, and musical standout Valerie Simpson and the Abyssinian Baptist Church Choir will perform. The invitation-only gathering is expected to not just center on Talley’s work but also who he was as a person and how he inspired future generations.
Marc Jacobs, Naomi Campbell, Bethann Hardison, Anna Wintour and Carolina Herrera are among the fashion designers who are expected Friday to pay tribute. Alexis Thomas, Brian Nunn and the Savannah College of Art and Design’s leader Paula Wallace will also share insights about Talley’s life.
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Durham, N.C., by his maternal grandmother, who was a cleaning woman at Duke University, Talley rose through the ranks of the fashion industry, often the first Black man to reach such heights. Unmissable at 6 feet, 6 inches, he commanded a room with his booming baritone voice, towering presence and custom capes. After earning undergraduate and master’s degrees at Brown University, Talley relocated to New York, apprenticing for the ultimate style arbiter Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Adept at understanding how fashion defines identity, Talley understood how it could wash away stereotypes and prejudices.
Having experienced racism in and out of fashion, Talley chronicled some of those experiences in two biographies, “The Chiffon Trenches” — a New York Times bestseller — and “A.L.T.: A Memoir.” A 2021 recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, he also was honored with the Eugenia Sheppard Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
In honor of Talley, SCAD is bringing back its André Leon Talley Award after a temporary hiatus due to the pandemic, which put the school’s annual fashion show on ice. This year’s honoree will be awarded to SCAD graduate Christopher John Rogers, according to Wallace.
Wallace said von Furstenberg agreed that Rogers was the “most appropriate choice.” Wallace added, “She is going to help me honor Christopher [John Rogers]. And at the same time, we will be honoring André [Leon Talley] by renewing his award, which he presented for so many years at SCAD to other designers.”
Miuccia Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and Isabel Toledo were among the previous recipients of Talley’s namesake award. Wallace said, “Of course, he was always the one who selected [the] nominee. Recently, Diane and I were talking about it and she really suggested that we should present the award. I said, ‘Who should we present the award to?’ She said, ‘Christopher John Rogers — of course.’”
Talley and Wallace first met in 2000 and his influence on SCAD and many of its students and graduates can be seen in different ways. Along with the award, there is an André Leon Talley gallery on the Savannah campus. The longtime Vogue creative director also served on the school’s board of trustees for more than 12 years. “His presence will always be felt at SCAD,” Wallace said.
As for what Talley might want students to hold onto, Wallace said, “I think he would want them to be brave and he would want them to be unapologetically themselves. That’s what he did.”
Wallace, who will be among the speakers at Friday’s tribute, has been leafing through her many memories of Talley recently. Asked how Talley would want to be remembered in the fashion industry, Wallace noted how erudite he was. “He really was a font of knowledge. He was such a larger-than-life person that maybe his personality might have — in some people’s minds — overshadowed his actual knowledge.”
Emphasizing what a knowledgeable person Talley was, Wallace said that with what seemed to be a photographic memory, he could recount all the fashion shows that he had ever seen, which is kind of stupendous to think about. But he did. He was a historian, a writer, a connector of people, too,” Wallace said. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
It has been sold to G/O Media, the publisher of Gizmodo, AV Club, Jezebel and The Root, among others, for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition marks the third time the site has changed hands since its inception in 2012 under Atlantic Media, which sold Quartz in 2018 to Uzabase, a publicly traded Japanese media company. Cofounder Zach Seward and editor in chief Katherine Bell took Quartz private two years later in a management buyout.
“Quartz’s greatest strengths — our global newsroom and audience, our high-quality advertising work and our email expertise — will help propel G/O’s next phase of growth. G/O, meanwhile, will help us reach a lot more people across its network and unlock new revenue streams that we couldn’t on our own. And we will make this combination without any reduction in jobs,” said Quartz chief executive officer Seward in a memo prepared for Quartz’s staffers.
He explained that after taking Quartz private in 2020, executives had sought to raise money with selling not being the plan, but it became the best path for Quartz, when they started talking to G/O earlier this year.
Like many other digital media companies, Quartz has struggled amid the ever-changing media landscape, which has seen companies slashing marketing budgets, more ads being swallowed up by Facebook and Google and venture capitalist investors’ waning interest in digital media. As a result, many have merged, including Vox Media and Group Nine Media and BuzzFeed and Complex Networks.
In the case of Quartz, The New York Times reported that it lost about $6.9 million in 2021.
Seward insisted that there are no layoffs connected to the sale, but revealed that Bell, who has helmed the newsroom since January 2020, would be stepping down, although she will continue as an adviser to Quartz. Seward will take on the role of editor in chief.
“This is an exciting new role for me: I’ve worn many hats in a decade at Quartz, but never had the privilege of leading our newsroom. I’m excited to get back into news and work alongside our executive editors, Kira Bindrim, Heather Landy, Walt Frick and Francesca Donner,” he added.
Of the sale, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said: “Acquiring Quartz adds to our already unparalleled portfolio of sites that are beloved by readers and embraced by advertisers. The digital business news space is an area ripe for investment and synergies with our other G/O Media sites. Quartz’s commitment to quality and mission-driven journalism embodies the values espoused in all of our brands, and I look forward to working with the talented Quartz team to grow the business to new levels of success.”
In 2019, G/O Media, formerly Gizmodo Media Group, was acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners and it has not been all smooth sailing. Many top editors exited the company after the sale. Most recently, there has reportedly been high staff turnover at The Root over the past year due to G/O Media’s executives involvement in the site, while a number of staffers have also departed from Jezebel. — KATHRYN HOPKINS
