Being “too old, too overweight, and too uncool” was apparently too much for Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. In former Vogue Editor-At-Large Andre Leon Talley’s new memoir “The Chiffon Diaries”, Talley reflects on his decades long career at the premier fashion bible & goes on to call Wintour “ruthless.” Talley’s official career with Conde Nast ended in 2013, but he continued interviews on the red carpet during The Met Gala, and after being replaced for that job as well, Talley pointedly indicates that Wintour is “not capable of human kindness.”
Page Six goes on to report that Wintour is not the only noted fashion name to fall victim to Talley’s poison pen. Longtime friend and fashion legend trailblazer Karl Lagerfeld “lost close to 100 pounds in 2001 with his Spoonlight Program, which involved low caloric dishes and Diet Coke.” Their longtime friendship ended when Talley suggested the designer do a joint exhibition with photographer Deborah Turbeville — in front of a new group of friends Lagerfeld was hanging out with. Lagerfeld’s “ego wouldn’t let him support another artist in the realm of photography” Talley discloses. After being removed from the guest list for Chanel shows, the two fashion titans never spoke again.
One of the more risqué tales in the book is reserves for famed shoe maven Manolo Blahnik, who Talley says he got to know at a party on Fire Island where “somebody spiked the punch with something that made them laugh for 14 hours straight.” The two “took a long walk on the beach and found their way into the woods where they saw a group of men masturbating together wearing leather chaps and nothing else.”
“The Chiffon Trenches” is out May 19th; order on BarnesandNoble.com