Lots of drama was served up at the 92nd Street Y on Tuesday night, where fashion-industry doyenne Fern Mallis skillfully interviewed the larger-than-life fashion editor André Leon Talley.
It was in the way Mr. Talley swept onto the stage, grandly, wearing his signature caftan—this one a shiny blue number by Ralph Rucci—paired with a Tom Ford bow tie and Manolo Blahnik slip-ons.
It was there in his pursed lips, hand gestures and pregnant pauses. At one point, he cut Ms. Mallis off as they were discussing his current role as editor-at-large of Numero Russia, to shout, "Where are you going, Bethann?," referring to model advocate Bethann Hardison, who had gotten up from her seat, she later tweeted, to seek warmth in the lobby.
André Leon Talley, a contributing editor at Vogue, with host Fern Mallis before a talk at the 92nd Street Y.
That exchange came toward the end of a series of stories, including ones he told about Karl Lagerfeld, who was generous to Mr. Talley, especially when he was a broke up-and-comer with expensive tastes.
When two of Mr. Talley's biggest influences, his grandmother and Diana Vreeland, died in the same year, Mr. Lagerfeld booked Mr. Talley a Concorde flight to Mr. Lagerfeld's country home. (It is "kind of sad," Mr. Talley added, that the Concorde doesn't exist anymore.) There were presents of crepe-de-chine shirts and a Cartier pen. When the soon-to-be 65-year-old Mr. Talley turned 50, Mr. Lagerfeld gave him $50,000.
"I never slept with him!" Mr. Talley declared.
Mr. Talley's grandmother, who raised him in North Carolina, was a woman of modest means who was nevertheless fastidious about a well-maintained home. She wore gloves, splurged on hats and "even ironed towels," he said. He called Ms. Vreeland, who he worked for and was close to for years, his "best lesson" in style. He noticed she had her luggage shellacked, so he did the same with his. Once, he added, "we had a four-hour conversation about French espadrilles."
The word "soignée" came up more than once. Carolina Herrera, in the audience along with Michael Kors and Bette Midler, is "always soignée," for example.
Mr. Talley, it turns out, held a variety of jobs before his stint at Vogue, including park ranger ("I loved the outfit") and working for Andy Warhol at Interview magazine. Vogue editor Anna Wintour, he noted, gets a bad rap. She isn't cold, he said, but a "guarded person" who taught him discipline and how to make editing decisions fast.
And he doesn't feel the least bit self-conscious about leaving the house in a caftan, especially after seeing Marc Jacobs work a lace dress at 2012's Met Costume Institute Gala.
"If Marc can wear a lace dress, I can wear caftans or anything I want any time of the day," Mr. Talley said.
It's no wonder he got a standing ovation at the end.
Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared October 10, 2013, on page A24 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: An Emperor of Fashion.
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