The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley book review

I first heard of the late Andre Leon Talley (ALT) in 2019 when I went to Arise Fashion Week as a media rep for CNN. I remember it was a big deal he was around for the show. Although I didn’t get it then, I would later find out why. He was a well-versed and influential journalist during the golden age of fashion. He was a trailblazer for Black Americans in the industry and is notable for being the first Black editor at Vogue.

About The Chiffon Trenches

The Chiffon Trenches captures ALT’s journey to the pinnacle of fashion; from growing up with his grandmother, and landing his first gig, to his many wins and losses. 

I consider myself a fashion hobbyist. I love it, and I have an eye for it. So although I haven’t followed ALT’s career journey, I bought this book hoping to peek into the inner workings of the fashion industry.

And it turned out to be a lot more than a little peek. The Chiffon Trenches plunges you into the fashion elites’ extravagant, glamorous, obnoxious, and scandalous world. ALT recalled every relevant event and described every outfit in detail, making you feel like you were there. 

The Daily Telegraph review on the front cover describes it as the “ideal reading material for anyone who found The Devil Wears Prada addictive but now needs a stronger hit.”

And they are right. 

Demystifying the mighty world of glamour

I read The Chiffon Trenches while going through the Tinder Swindler and Inventing Anna on Netflix. All three made me feel less intrigued by high society. The book especially peeled back the layers, making one realize yet again that they are just people, talented albeit not gods.

It also made me sad for ALT as he described living a lonely life and giving so much to the fashion world with little appreciation in return.

He craved love from his mother but didn’t get it, from his peers, but that came with conditions. And his trauma from sexual abuse complicated things.

The cost of friendship in high places

He talks about being friends with Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour, but the former would end their 40-year friendship over a flimsy thing.

He also describes being unappreciated and discarded by Vogue and Anna Wintour.

The one person he seemed so confident was his friend, and to whom he dedicated the book, would leave him panicking when he didn’t get an invitation to her burial early enough.

Yet, ALT didn’t see their actions as vices but as traits one gets accustomed to.

Somehow you can’t blame him, because going through his book you see that this attitude is common in the industry.

From the outside looking in, I couldn’t help but feel that he didn’t realize that these friendships were too transactional. In one place, he wrote, “I think Anna still feels a kinship to me or she wouldn’t keep inviting me to her Chanel fittings.”

The yardstick for friendship should not primarily be about what you can do for the other party and I don’t think he fully grasped that.

Or he knew– I mean, he was part of the culture– and maybe it was not so much their eventual betrayal that stung but the status and the access he was no longer privy to. 

Otherwise, having seen these people mete out the same treatment to others, he would have prepared better for his day of reckoning. But he did not. 

I do not wish to judge him so harshly because life is complicated. I just wish he stood up for himself more and did not give so much room to people who disrespect him.

It’s even sadder knowing that he’s now passed away having achieved everything but the one thing he wanted– love.