A.L.T. : A Memoir

The New York Times

André Leon Talley tells the public about style in Vogue; in his memoir, A.L.T., he writes about two women who taught him what style is. One was Diana Vreeland, the Vogue editor who issued impossible-to-follow dictums for luxurious living. The other was his grandmother Bennie Frances Davis, a maid in Durham, N.C., who raised him. — Margaret Van Dagens

Publishers Weekly

What influences shape a fashionista? For Vogue editor-at-large Talley (born in 1949), the answer is simple: his grandmother Bennie Davis and empress of style Diana Vreeland. In his heartfelt, occasionally affected remembrance, the Southern-born African-American admits he had little experience with Vreeland's brand of luxury but enjoyed "an innate understanding of it," thanks to his grandmother's meticulous sense of propriety. Indeed, his memoir, an homage to two extraordinary women, is less an autobiography than a eulogy. The women's mutual love of polish is "evidence of a deeper philosophy-the primacy of home and the importance of spending time in its service." Talley is a keen observer, and his book salutes beauty and its practitioners from his grandmother to Karl Lagerfeld. He's at his best, however, when recalling his Durham, N.C., childhood, his devoted father and life in a segregated South. He renders tales of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, family reunions and life during the Civil Rights movement in sumptuous detail. Yet Talley is equally awed by Vreeland, Halston and Mica Ertegun, among his pantheon of fashion royalty, and he considers it a privilege just to sit at their tables. Vreeland, his mentor, enjoys a special place in his heart, and he waxes rhapsodic about her talent as fashion icon and director of the Met's Costume Institute. Between these personal salutes, he details a 30-year hitch in the chiffon trenches, from glam parties and unimagined opulence to the generosity of friends. If Talley has one message, it's "Style transcends race, class, and time." His memoir, though saccharine in spots, is sincere. Agent, Luke Janklow. (On sale Apr. 8) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From a home- and church-centered childhood on the wrong side of the tracks in 1950s Durham, NC, to attaining an M.A. in French literature from Brown University, to a glamorous, jet-setting life during the 1980s and 1990s as a fashion editor for Vogue, Talley wistfully recounts the inspiring story of his life. In parallel narrative threads, permeated with love and gratitude, he traces the influence, kindness, and style of the grandmother who raised him and the late ex-Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. With the same acute sense-memory evident in his effervescent and informative "StyleFax" column in Vogue, Talley evokes the textures, colors, smells, and flavors he encountered while growing up and then working in the fashion worlds of New York and Paris. While mixing with the "beautiful people" in the course of his work, Talley remains a devout churchgoer who never forgets his African American roots and strong values. This autobiography reminds us to work hard and always to be grateful, "to be tough and hang in there." Highly recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/02.]-Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Fashion’s eminent Fabulous Person chronicles his metamorphosis from country boy to man about town, moving from the side of his beloved grandmother to his equally cherished mentor, Diana Vreeland. Vogue editor-at-large Talley has been a scene-maker since the ’70s: noticed by "Empress of Style" Vreeland when he interned at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he moved on to cover the party circuit for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and never left the center of the New York fashion world. His career-making obsession with elegant detail was come by honestly, he reveals, beginning a discussion of luxury by recalling how his North Carolina grandmother boiled and ironed their crisp white sheets. A cleaning woman, Talley's "Mama," Bennie Frances Davis, demonstrated the importance of maintaining dignity and dash regardless of financial circumstances; the bulk of his text dwells on the wholly absorbing details of his southern childhood and his grandmother's style. Talley reports on Mama’s elegant church wardrobe, her practice of packing clothing in layers of tissue paper, and her abiding regard for a very fine pair of gloves. Talley finds a similar iron will in his "surrogate mother," Vreeland, making repeated reference to her insistence on maintaining an impeccable pedicure even as she took to her bed and slowly expired. The tale is larded with fashionista gossip, but far less than one might expect--and that’s not the most compelling feature: when Talley discusses how his hospital room was decorated for a Nest magazine shoot, we wonder when he'll get back to his grandmother's cooking. For a man who makes his living in a world that focuses scrupulously on appearances, theauthor has a surprisingly passionate affection for faith and family. Lyrical (if sometimes purple), satisfying, and suprisingly moving. Agent: Luke Janklow/ Janklow & Nesbit