THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRÉ

Director: Kate Novack

2018, 93, PG-13

Cast: André Leon Talley with Bethann Hardison, Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Eboni Marshall Turman, Michelle Obama, Julia Child, Martin Luther King, Barbra Streisand, Yves Saint-Laurent, Halston, Diana Vreeland, Valentino Garavani, Andy Warhol, Fran Lebowitz, Whoopi Goldberg, Diane von Fürstenberg, Karl Lagerfeld, Isabella Rossellini, Sandra Bernhard, Naomi Campbell, Maureen Dowd, Melania Trump, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Rihanna

 

When André Leon Talley died on January 18th, the word most used to describe the 6’6″ fashion journalist known for dressing in capes and dishing with Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model was ‘fabulous’. And while we would never diminish his supreme fabulousity, Kate Novak’s documentary reveals that there was much, much more to this man. Interviews with Talley and friends in the fashion world reveal his hardscrabble childhood in segregated North Carolina, his days at Brown University (where he earned an MFA in French literature) and the racism and homophobia he encountered. The first African American man to serve as the creative editor of Vogue magazine, Talley advocated for more diversity of color and sexual preference among the journalists, models and designers in the fashion industry. And when you count among your personal clients everyone from to Mariah Carey to Michelle Obama, it’s a given that your inside stories, fierce intelligence and wit will not be forgotten.

A Queer Thursdays presentation. “In The Gospel According to André, a star isn’t born. He gives birth to himself, through sheer force of will.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post.