The Chiffon Trenches // A Memoir

During Andr Leon Talleys first magazine job, alongside Andy Warhol atInterview,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, Andr moved to Paris as bureau chief of John FairchildsWomens Wear Daily,befriending fashion’s most important designers (Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta). But as Andr 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 ofVogueunder Grace Mirabella.

There, he eventually became creative director, developing an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour. As she rose to the top ofVogues masthead, Andr also ascended, and soon became the most influential man in fashion.
The Chiffon Trenchesoffers a candid look at the whos who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how Andr not only survived the brutal style landscape but thriveddespite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industryto become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion.

Woven throughout the book are also Andrs own personal struggles that have impacted him over the decades, along with intimate stories of those he has turned to for inspiration (Diana Vreeland, Diane von Frstenberg, Lee Radziwill, to name a few), and of course his Southern roots and ongoing faith, which have 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.

• Hardcover:304 pages
• Publisher:Ballantine Books (May 19, 2020)
• Language:English
• ISBN-10:0593129253
• ISBN-13:9780593129258
• Product Dimensions:6.4 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight:1.3 pounds