André Leon Talley’s presence could be felt everywhere at the Met Gala on Monday. The late creative director and editor at large of Vogue magazine, who died in 2022 at age 73, heavily influenced the spirit of the costume exhibit, where one of his suits was featured, and the glitzy event itself.
Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour wrote extensively about her old colleague in her editor’s letter last month, writing that she would be “thinking of him on the night of the Met Gala, an evening made for him — and one I can scarcely believe he will miss.”
And she was hardly the only one. Many attendees, as diverse as Anne Hathaway and Rev. Al Sharpton, had Talley top of mind as they walked the blue carpet Monday. Hathaway, in Carolina Herrera, said she dressed specifically for him.
“We wanted André Leon Talley to look down from heaven and scream ‘GLAMOUR,’” Hathaway said on the Vogue livestream.
Sharpton, meanwhile, wanted to spotlight Talley’s trailblazing contributions to the fashion world. He said that people like Talley fought to have a night like this. “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” is the first Costume Institute exhibit to focus exclusively on Black designers.
“I know André Leon Talley is looking down on us, smiling,” Sharpton said. “That’s why I had to be here. And I had to be as dandy as I could.”
Event co-chair Colman Domingo seemed to pay homage to Talley’s passion for dramatic capes, and possibly even the look that Talley wore in 2011, with his bright blue Valentino.
Some were more obvious. Actor Tessa Thompson wore a fan accessory with the late famed Vogue editor pictured on the front, and model Paloma Elsesser wore a leather jacket decorated with his face while on her way to get ready for the event.
And others got extra creative, channeling Talley’s infectious exuberance. Doechii, who is on the host committee, recreated a famous photograph of Talley joyfully bounding out of a hotel, with a larger-than-life smile, a tennis racket and arms full of Louis Vuitton luggage.
The point, everyone seemed to understand, was to have fun with it. Talley would have.
“André knew who he was, and I know how much he would have adored “Superfine,” every aspect of it,” Wintour wrote.
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