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mesillusionssousecstasy · 1 year

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The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley

This book was great, but it could have been excellent with more stories, history and pictures regarding the fashion world. Not to be rude, but sometimes André complained at bit much about being a black man in fashion (activism should have been another book subject). He had such an incredible life, he met such incredible and inspiring people and honestly, if he wasn't gay he wouldn't have been as successful as he was (even truer with this sentence, page 48, "All the principals were gay, something that was understood and never discussed. In this world, there were no victims, only highoctane egos.").

What a life. What an era. For example, page 34, 70, 77, 79, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 99, 113, 114, 127, 131, 132, 133, 134, 151, 152, 161, 162, 205, 207, 212, 228, 229, 249, 262,

I wanted more history about fashion, more history about designer, why omitting so many important ones like McQueen (even being cruel about him at page 148, he was a genius (the most beautiful masterpiece come from darkness it is well known); page 123, John Galliano wasn't the unique visionary of this era), Pucci, Valentino, Thierry Mugler, Paco Rabanne, Lanvin, ...

Why hasn't he even written a bit in French? Strange after so many French studies and living in Paris... (example at page 268)

And he should have done a book with all his photo shooting publications. It would have been a must! Because honestly, too often does he mentioned outfits or interiors without any picture to show us (shame): page 58, 59, 126, 194, 195, 214, 236, 240, 241, 248, 254, 255,

Also, one question arises: To which point is it true? (Why lie about Karl and Baptiste at page 187)?

About Andy Warhol on page 21: "With Andy, anyone could be anyone and everyone was equal - a drag queen or an heiress. At the Factory, if you were interesting, you were "in". And while he could be seen out and about at night, Andy also went to church every morning to thank God for his life, his money, and his mother." & "When Andy was in a good mood, he created small, signed pieces of art for his staff. A silkscreen print from one of his series, or a small painting, like a candy heart in lace on Valentine's Day. It was a quite generous perk.

About Karl Lagerfeld : - Page 25: "Fashion's fun and you can't really take it too seriously. Frivolity must be an integral form." - Page 53: "When I was four, I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday. I wanted my clothes prepared so I could wear anything I wanted at any time of day. At ten, I was always in hats, high collars, and neckties. I never played with other children. I read books and did drawings night and day." - Page 77: "In 1982, Karl Lagerfeld announced he was taking over as creative director of CHANEL. Paris was abuzz with the news, a beehive of intrigue and envy. Vogue wrote at the time that it was the talk of Paris; Karl Lagerfeld who was not French, going to the top of the fashion hill at CHANEL was in fact momentous. Alicia Drake said in her book The Beautiful Fall that Karl's ascension "was a black day at the house of Saint Laurent, (I don't remember this sentence btw)." - Page 100: That's one way of the story. - Page 102: So surprising that everyone is criticizing Karl when he had enough of support them financially (he even gave a house to Princess Caroline de Monaco). - Page 108: Karl's relationship with death and mourning. - Page 113: Who is Karl's dry-cleaning? The name. - Page 114: Karl's life. - Page 115: "And I suffered in exile for a season but learned a valuable lesson: Never trust anyone close to Kaiser Karl." - Page 153 & 156: Karl and his precious gifts. - Page 162: What a generous man. - Page 163: Incredible story with André, Anna et Karl. - Page 173: Karl's regime. - Page 178: "Karl Lagerfeld did not go to Yves Saint Laurent's funeral. He sent flowers to the church, a huge arrangement of white roses, with a handwritten note: "In memory of our better days, of our youth." - Page 187: lying about Karl and Baptiste. - Page 188: Karl being tired of people abusing him. - Page 191: The last interaction between Karl and André. - Page 234: About Karl's death, "Anna Wintour called me from London. "I thought he would live forever." (Me too). - Page 235: "In my Southern Baptist culture, people visit the graves of loved ones. One summer, I faxed Karl that I had been to the grave of my father, who is buried in Roxboro, North Carolina. Amanda Harlech told me later that Karl told her, "Apparently André's spending his time running around North Carolina, visiting graves of his relatives." (Hilarious). - Page 236: "Perhaps Karl thought contemplating death was a waste of time. Truly, there was no one with a more robust schedule in all of fashion than Karl Lagerfeld. He ran three of the biggest fashion brands in the world simultaneously for decades: CHANEL, Fendi and his eponymous Lagerfeld label. And still he took on various anonymous freelance work. While other designers were driven to drink and madness and sometimes suicide by the pressures of one fashion house, Karl made it all seem so easy." (How did he do it btw). --> The book has been published after Karl's death and no word about Virginie Viard (page 235).

About John Fairchild: - Page 31: "I am the boss, and don't you ever forget it." & "I don't give a damn about clothes, I care about the people who wear them." - Page 69: "Mr. Fairchild, this genius who could make or destroy a company or a person with his brilliant sense of wordsmithing."

About Paris on page 51: "Paris offered great characters and subtle intrigues, promiscuity, drugs, scandals - a whole different world from where I had grown up. In Paris, I was always seated on the front row at the couture and ready-to-wear catwalk shows."

About Anna Wintour: - Page 85: "Anna's position as creative director was vague enough to give her both total control of the magazine and zero control, depending on whom you asked." - Page 92: "Each of these women had a strong, independent personality. By naming all three fashion directors, Anna gave each equal billing on the masthead, and each could do her own thing. It was a brilliant move, politically. The equality of their roles also reflected the fact that at Anna Wintour's Vogue, there was no hierarchy. There was Anna Wintour, and there was everyone else." - Page 93-94: The Devil Wears Prada has been confirmed that it is untrue. - Page 95: Does Anna Wintour in a way got André to get closer to Karl at the beginning? - Page 98: She is amazing in the picture. - Page 145: Why he gave his story to W and not Anna, "I had to take it to Mr. Fairchild because I knew he would read it seriously and publish it respectfully." - Page 216: Her and André about the podcast for the Met. - Page 219: "I wonder, when she goes home alone at night, is she miserable? Does she feel alone? Perhaps she doesn't allow herself to feel these things, as she clearly is a person who does not dwell on the past." (Because she doesn't have time for it). - Page 222: "Like any ruthless individual, she maintains her sangfroid at all times. She is always dashing in and out, and I do believe she is immune to anyone other than the powerful and famous people who populate the pages of Vogue." (I don't think he must take it personally).

Incredible story about Gloria von Thurn und Taxis (page 89-90).

The true about Pierre Bergé is not even a surprise (page 97).

About John Galliano: - Page 123-124: His beginning. - Page 130: "Galliano understood me and I got him. I knew his wavelength, where his inspirations came about. I'd been accused of sleeping with all the designers, but the truth is that I embrace their dreams, step inside their dreams, and become part of their dreams. I bonded with Galliano on a human level. He is a genius, a visionary, a poet. A mad poet, like Rimbaud, or Verlaine, or Baudelaire."

About Diana Vreeland: - Second picture: "At a party, when you don't feel as if you have the room at your attention, just find a seat, or a corner. Sit quietly and calmly, occupy your personal space, and people will notice you. And if the world, or party, doesn't come to you, well then it's not meant to be." - Page 207: the mention of Madame Grès.

About Gabriel Chanel: - Page 158-159: "Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance."

About Tom Ford: - Page 212: His entire black garden in London (love it).

About Lee Radziwill: - Page 230: "X-rays showed Lee had broken her hip. She was immediately operated on and had a hip replacement. When she saw the replacement X-rays, she said, "I have a beautiful Brancusi sculpture inside me."

About Naomi Campbell: - Page 240: She and her friends don't need vista - Page 243: "Being in her entourage is like being in a film; she's larger than life, like Elizabeth Taylor." - Page 245: "If Naomi were music, she would be Saint-Saën's "The Swan," from his suite The Carnival of the Animals, or she would be Scott Joplin's "Gladiolus Rag." She has majestic drama on a professional runway, and her personal life is itself reminiscent of "Triumphal March" from the second act of Verdi's Aida. If she were a poem, it would be "Correspondences" by Baudelaire." - Page 246: "Naomi threw me a look that, if it were a poison dart, would have been a fatal blow." (Le naturel revient au galop) - Page 247: Doesn't know what mean "Éclatante!", shameful.

About Carolina Herrera: - "I always selected the dress I knew no one else would think of buying."

I like his view on love at page 63, 109 ("Sex was not on my radar. Success was."), Incredible picture at page 76, 98, fifth picture, !

Now I understand why there is a Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl (is it related to the Bass family? Anne Bass, page 89

André didn't tell us how Jacques got Aids (page 106), his debauchery.

I don't agree with those sentences: - At page 129: "CHANEL was the great designer but Dior was the name people associated with Paris couture." - At page 225: "Jackie the celebrity had stolen Ari Onassis from Lee." (Not Lee, but from Maria Calas).

I have only heard about "Le Palace", not at all "Club 7".

What about his father, because André always talks about his mother, but almost never about his father (page 198).

I'm sad to discover that I have missed the Oscar de la Renta exhibition in Paris at the Mona Bismarck Center (page 202).

I don't understand why he cut the 2019 Met Gala with Marc Jacobs' wedding (page 240 & 255ss)?

The real moral of the story is at page 257, "The real elegance took a train out of town a long time ago" by Anne Bass. She is so right. And the end of the golden age at page 263, 264, 265 about Condé Nast.

The Epilogue wasn't necessary.

Be aware, the book is a slow read, and it's mostly focus about Karl and Anna (at least for him to criticize them)

Some good quotes: - p. 4: "When I would get upset, my uncle Lewis used to say to me, "Just keep on getting up. Get up every day and just keep going." - p. 5: "I dreamed of meeting Naomi Sims and Pat Cleveland, and living a life like the ones I saw in the pages of Vogue, where bad things never happened." (Story of my life) - p. 6: "While I knew she loved me, I don't think she liked me." - p. 19: "His manerisms, his dandyisms, his snobbism were toxic to my budget but auspicious for my aspirations." (Love it) - p. 52: "We all had a certain way of being and we came together as units, little cliques of ego, glamour, and power. I was fully a part of this machine." - p. 55: "Betty Catroux loved me and accepted me for who I was, not for what I did. That was rare in fashion circles." - p. 61: "We were all on top of the world at this wedding. We felt free and there weren't even any drugs - well, at least not with any of my close friends. Maybe there was too much fine champagne." (Nice one) - p. 67: "She had opened my eyes to a reality I so badly wanted to deny." - p. 92-93: "One was expected to behave a certain way when representing Vogue. I played it cool and I behaved in an aloof, distant, somewhat disdainful manner, the way people usually conduct themselves on the front row. It's rare that you see a major editor emote." - p. 105: "My mother loved clothes, though I am not sure that she ever fully loved me." (Terrible) - p. 144: "Fashion is not an industry that lives in the past, but rather carries its past along, like a shadow, wherever it goes." - p. 196: "She, like Mrs. Vreeland, just took to her bed and waited to leave the world, with her own sense of the world internalized." - p. 199: "I do not fear death, as it was always present in my Baptist upbringing: Prepare yourself for death. We all have to die one day." - p. 203: "A person's words and deeds can make an indelible impression upon the soul. You can make a person feel loved through the simplest things in life. It's not the extravagant gifts that count. It's the thought, the gesture behind it." - p. 218: "I understand; nothing lasts forever." - p. 227: "Whatever time each of us had with her should be remembered as nothing less than a privilege." - p. 268: "When I am overwhelmed with feelings of emptiness and deep sadness, when the day begins and ebbs into dark blues, I have life-enhancing stratagems to make the day a better one."

Bonsoir.

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