The Gospel According To Andre !

‘André Leon Talley was a force of nature in fashion.
He died on January 18, after suffering from a heart attack. Talley was 73.

The legendary, veteran fashion journalist, Paris correspondent and the first black Vogue editor, changed the way we look at clothes, fashion and how we have come to identify with our personal style. His career, which spanned five decades, he offered rare insight into the works of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, two designers he became close with, and wrote for Vanity Fair, Interview Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, among others.

Among his books, his memoir The Chiffon Trenches detailed the profound influence of his grandmother on his life, his upbringing in the segregated South, and his life as one of the key fashion journalists in New York and Paris, a city he loved as a lifelong student of the French language. He carried elegance everywhere he went.

Talley was also the subject of a recent documentary called The Gospel According to André, which follows his unlikely story of overcoming insurmountable odds in life. Here are some of his most inspiring quotes, Andre-isms, that capture his personality ..from Forbes

I have four bedrooms in my house. One is for guests, the other three are for closets.

You come to Paris, you get true originality, and it’s wonderful.

Luxury is to be able to take control of one’s life, health and the pursuit of happiness in a way that is joyful.

The most luxurious item is a beautiful bed and beautiful, simple sheets.

When I have interns, I always say, ‘Handwritten thank-you notes can make a difference.’ People remember that – not an e-mail, a handwritten note in an envelope.

I went to Brown University to be a French professor, and I didn’t know what I was doing, except that I loved French. When I got to Paris, and I could speak French, I know how much it helped me to establish relationships with Karl Lagerfeld, with the late Yves Saint Laurent.

French, it just helps you if you’re in fashion. The French people started style.

I always gravitated to people who were also walking encyclopedias.

I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine.

I take my story with me wherever I go. The past is always in the present

It’s incorrect to assume you can be a fashion editor because you blog, if you don’t have experience to look at fashion in a professional way.

I’d like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of young people – that I nurtured someone and taught them to pursue their dreams and their careers, to leave a legacy.