How ALT Got His Emperor’s Clothes

After his tenure as Andy Warhol’s Interview receptionist but prior to his current Vogue gig, André Leon Talley spent his days at WWD’s Paris bureau and nights chez Karl Lagerfeld. Recalling late-70s life as a sartorial neophyte at an FIT-sponsored Fashion Conversation yesterday, Talley admitted the Kaiser just may have saved him from a life of “dreckitude.” When asked to come to Lagerfeld’s bedroom one evening for a post-prandial rendezvous, “I said of course!” ALT recalled. It was then that the designer began flinging things—soft, silky things—at him from his Goyard luggage. Told to just take the Kaiser’s sloppy seconds (which ultimately proved a hit at WWD), he agreed. “I had my crêpe de Chine scarves, hand-me-downs from Karl Lagerfeld!” And lest anyone think he’s gotten his goodies in less savory ways over the years, he let it be known he’s “slept in many designer beds” but “never slept with any designer. My career is made on me!” 

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