High above pale purple lines of lavender dotting the Luberon Valley in southern France, there is a new homage being paid to André Leon Talley. At the Savannah College of Art and Design’s satellite campus museum in Lacoste, doors just opened to an exhibition dedicated to the late fashion editor. “Le Style est Éternel” honors Talley’s legacy as well as the designers he wore and beautiful things he collected.
Within lies a superabundance of custom pieces: Chanel that Talley donned on the red carpet of the Met Gala, a glittering Ralph Rucci tunic, Charvet shirts and ties, Vivenne Westwood items, Roger Vivier shoes, Gucci loafers, and more of his signature caftans. Each is worn by a towering, bespoke mannequin, sculpted to be the same 6’5” height Talley was. Encased in plexiglass are personal letters and a printed copy of his memorable Vanity Fair editorial, dubbed “Scarlett ‘N the Hood,” where he reversed Gone with the Wind’s race and gender roles. The soundtrack overhead fuses clips of Talley's interviews, his words of inspiration, and music that was meaningful to him. It’s all a marvel to lay eyes on and experience.
Photography Courtesy of SCAD“Because we worked on so many projects in the past together, I knew what he liked and what he could not stand. Everything needed to be perfect,” SCAD FASH museums Creative Director Rafael Brauer Gomes tells me. He and Talley knew each other as early as the mid-2000s, when Gomes worked for Westwood. “Even if you can’t see it, every single look has trousers, shoes, socks. It's perfect underneath, and it's something that they know he would have been very happy about.”
While the tributary exhibit’s presence in France itself is fresh, “Le Style est Éternel” is actually in its third iteration. It first showed in Savannah last August, then in Atlanta. What’s different about the Lacoste presentation is scale. The French show has just a fraction of the bounty of more than 80 looks seen stateside. To achieve this, Gomes exercised compendiary editing, tightening the bounty shown in Atlanta’s much larger space to fit Lacoste’s more restrained rooms.
“We thought about his years in Paris. We have some of the most iconic pieces here,” the SCAD FASH creative director says, explaining his process for condensing the show. This explains why the exhibit’s Lacoste version skews towards French designers, though there are still non-French in the spotlight like Dapper Dan’s custom Gucci caftan. This choice was not just right for the location either, but it’s true to the fashion titan, who shaped and was shaped by French culture. After all, Talley was a scholar of French literature — including in his time at North Carolina Central University and Brown University — before he lived there.
The museum’s homage to Talley doesn’t just exist in the fact of the exhibition, but also lies in its most thoughtful touches. Leopard carpeting throughout the space mirrors what Talley loved and had in his own home. His mannequins’ stately aura—created by SCAD alum and sculptor Stephen L. Hayes (coincidentally from North Carolina, like Talley)—comes not just from their size and facial expression but from their polished poise, especially evident in their hands. These poses are never seen in photos; instead, Gomes manufactured them as an ode to Talley’s love of art.
“We got inspiration from 18th century paintings, from Jean-Honoré Fragonard, from François Boucher. We were replicating the position of the hands from these 18th century paintings,” Gomes says. Interestingly enough, this was “one of the best ways to showcase the pieces, to get the viewers to see the grandeur of the pieces. If we showcased it like tailored pieces, [with arms straight at the sides], much of the dress would be lost,” Gomes adds.
SCAD had been in talks with Talley about doing an exhibit of his clothes, though it took some convincing for the famed fashion editor to eventually say yes. “I told him, ‘We need to do an exhibition of your frocks. Everybody wants to see them.’ It's menswear done so differently, and you have all the designers making bespoke pieces,” Gomes remembers. It would have originally been focused on the designers from Talley’s personal collection. But after he died January 2022, SCAD decided to pivot and focus on Talley’s life and legacy. It helped that he gave many of his items to the art school when he died.
Talley, in his passing, has become a sort of fashion god to many of us because, well, he was. But seeing him in this way can also become problematic, as idolatry tends towards dehumanization. We know the giant he was, but we also know glimpses of pain he endured during his career, including as a result of racism and homophobia in the industry. In the low-light of the exhibition, Gomes balances reverence with reality. "I think the last period of his life was very difficult, very lonely with the pandemic and then the health issues. I wish he could have known it,” the curator laments, referencing the profundity of his impact.
“I'd like to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of young people… that nurtured them and taught them to pursue their dreams and their careers," Talley once said. Does he ever.
"André Leon Talley: Le Style est Éternel” is open until October 31 at SCAD FASH Lacoste. (For those who can’t make the journey, there's the exhibition book.) While we have Talley ‘n the South of France for now, “Le Style est Éternel” is to travel to other museum institutions, starting 2027. The next one is rumored to be back in the U.S.