André Leon Talley Drags Anna Wintour

[Littleathquakes]

I don't find it as controversial as the media outlets make it out to be. You can compliment someone for something and also criticize them for something else. She did break the proverbial glass ceiling with him. Could she have done way more in her position? Absolutely. It's taken ages to finally get the diversity that we see on the runways these days, but it's here. Times are changing, and she is too, and I think it's mature of him to not be bitter about it. But I still believe he'll also chime in with anything Anna-related just to keep holding onto that coattail of hers.

 

[KoV]

I recall him doing an interview about this book and calling it a “gospel of love” dedicated to Anna and he sent her the book beforehand and the only thing she asked him to remove were references to her daughter’s wedding and her ex husband, she didn’t ask him to remove anything negative about her. I haven’t read the book, but my impression is that it’s not nearly as anti Anna as people would have you believe, but he leaned into that when promoting the book because he knew it would get press coverage.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Does he have friends? Non famous ones.
It would be interesting if he mentioned them in the book

 

[AtticusFinch]

I tried to borrow it from the library but they are all out!

 

[Benn98]

Does he have friends? Non famous ones.
It would be interesting if he mentioned them in the book

Well, it's mainly about Anna and Karl. There's no mention of any personal friends from his youth and even the ones he mentions during the Warhol era seemed sort of lightly, in passing. That's why I say I find him so sad. Not in a shady way, but in a tragic way. No lover, no true friends, no family. Some people get dealt a shocking hand of cards.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Well, it's mainly about Anna and Karl. There's no mention of any personal friends from his youth and even the ones he mentions during the Warhol era seemed sort of lightly, in passing. That's why I say I find him so sad. Not in a shady way, but in a tragic way. No lover, no true friends, no family. Some people get dealt a shocking hand of cards.

His first book A.L.T. : A Memoir [2003] covers all of that and it’s a good read.

 

[fakeawake]

I recall him doing an interview about this book and calling it a “gospel of love” dedicated to Anna and he sent her the book beforehand and the only thing she asked him to remove were references to her daughter’s wedding and her ex husband, she didn’t ask him to remove anything negative about her. I haven’t read the book, but my impression is that it’s not nearly as anti Anna as people would have you believe, but he leaned into that when promoting the book because he knew it would get press coverage.

Anna is a good sport because she knows it's all in the game and probably takes none of this personally. She probably laughed at the characterizations of herself in the book. If anything Anna always knew he would write this book and was never truly out of pocket with him, she is calculating in ways that I think most people can't really understand. Anna plays the super-long game and has no problem looking bad

 

[dsamg]

Well, it's mainly about Anna and Karl. There's no mention of any personal friends from his youth and even the ones he mentions during the Warhol era seemed sort of lightly, in passing. That's why I say I find him so sad. Not in a shady way, but in a tragic way. No lover, no true friends, no family. Some people get dealt a shocking hand of cards.

Just read this and totally agree. The parts about binge eating were particularly sad and I found the rumour about him sleeping around very distressing and humiliating given his issues with sex and obsession with good manners. I previously thought he was spoilt and out-of-touch but after reading I see how he was just someone that got swept up into the lives of the ultra-wealthy then thrown away when he had no use. There was nothing particularly shocking about Anna or Karl although I did find his completely contrasting attitudes towards Galliano and McQueen very interesting. The craziest part of this book for me was reading about the age of expense accounts! Imagine giving an editor that kind of lifestyle and carte blanche with expenses that he had. No wonder magazines now find it hard to function financially.