The World Is Not Ready for the Fabulous Train Wreck of André Leon Talley on America's Next Top Model
André Leon Talley, Vogue's editor-at-large-and-in-charge, has signed on to judge three "cycles" of Tyra Banks' glam reality schlockfest. He says Anna Wintour was OK with the idea and he had couture gowns made for the show. This is gonna rule!
Remember Talley in The September Issue, when he pretended to play tennis while decked out in a full outfit of Louis Vuitton? It was amazing. But what is middle America going to think of this queeny, over-weight, label-obsessed giant, who gave a fascinating interview with Woman's Wear Daily about the show? They are used to gay black men thanks to former judge (and our hero) Miss J Alexander, but he always had an up-by-the-bootstraps relatability. Tyra Banks thinks Talley is going to be the high-culture antidote for her decidedly low-culture show, that has always been like a public access program with a very high budget. Talley even will get Anna to watch!
"Her reaction," said Talley, "was, ‘Fine, André. Just let me know when you're going to do it and how it's going.'" (Reached for comment, Wintour said through her spokesman, "André is always onto new things on television, and I think his latest adventure sounds like a lot of fun and I look forward to watching him on the program.")"
The collision of Vogue staffers and little girls from Iowa watching the same program is like a luxury train colliding with an RV and littering the tracks with champagne, Tang, Gucci, Kathy Ireland for K-Mart, cigarettes, Chace Crawford pictures cut out of Bop, and sparkles, lots and lots of sparkles. To mark his emergence into the reality TV scene, our André ordered "13 custom-made Chado Ralph Rucci cloaks, varying only in color or fabric". We are decidedly low culture, so that means we'll be watching in a Snuggie we blinged out with a Bedazzler, completely spellbound by the mess.