The Chiffon Trenches - Andre Leon Talley

The Chiffon Trenches

By Andre Leon Talley

  • Release Date: 2020-05-19
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
4.5 Score: 4.5 (From 282 Ratings)

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the pages of Vogue to the runways of Paris, this “captivating” (Time) memoir by a legendary style icon captures the fashion world from the inside out, in its most glamorous and most cutthroat moments.

The Chiffon Trenches honestly and candidly captures fifty sublime years of fashion.”—Manolo Blahnik

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Fortune Garden & Gun New York Post


During André Leon Talley’s first magazine job, alongside Andy Warhol at Interview, a fateful meeting with Karl Lagerfeld began a decades-long friendship with the enigmatic, often caustic designer. Propelled into the upper echelons by his knowledge and adoration of fashion, André moved to Paris as bureau chief of John Fairchild’s Women’s Wear Daily, befriending fashion's most important designers (Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta). But as André made friends, he also made enemies. A racially tinged encounter with a member of the house of Yves Saint Laurent sent him back to New York and into the offices of Vogue under Grace Mirabella.

There, he eventually became creative director, developing an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour. As she rose to the top of Vogue’s masthead, André also ascended, and soon became the most influential man in fashion.

The Chiffon Trenches offers a candid look at the who’s who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how André not only survived the brutal style landscape but thrived—despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry—to become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion.

Woven throughout the book are also André’s own personal struggles that impacted him over the decades, along with intimate stories of those he turned to for inspiration (Diana Vreeland, Diane von Fürstenberg, Lee Radziwill, to name a few), and of course his Southern roots and faith, which guided him since childhood.

The result is a highly compelling read that captures the essence of a world few of us will ever have real access to, but one that we all want to know oh so much more about.

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Latest Impressions

  • An Icon in the Fashion World.

    5
    By Word Lover 70
    Superbly written. Brilliant insight into the world of fashion from an icon of the fashion world. Personal Sadness and loss with a perseverance and positivism in an industry of white privilege during his working years ,he has carved a unique space that is rightfully his. RIP Mr Talley.
  • Amazing book !

    5
    By JonaMeGa
    I couldn't stop reading this amazing book. What a journey and experience in the world of fashion. I recommend this book to anyone who loves and lives fashion every day, like me as a student and latino I learn a lot from this book. Thank you André for sharing your legacy to the world.
  • Well done soldier!

    5
    By Mosaic queen
    Very insightful read! You never know what someone has gone through in life. Andre has given us a glimpse of life in high fashion. Thank you Andre.
  • All hail you, King….

    5
    By Franknla
    Amazing journey, like sitting at several sessions with him, so from the truth heart….let the church say amen…..
  • Delightful!!!

    5
    By kkflower_21
    I’ve been in the Fashion business for over 30 years, & enjoyed every page! His eloquent story of family, famous friends, and rise & fall of his waistline. I loved how vulnerable he was, & wished I was friends with him to grab dinner & gab the night away!
  • Don’t spend your money

    2
    By Fix The Update Button
    As much as I wanted to love this book, I am sad to say it was not worth your time or money. Andre spent this poorly written book on Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour and how expensive everything is tbat Anna and Karl bought or treated him too. There was a few moments spent on his food issues which Anna and Vogue also spent a lot of money on. Save your money.