Andre Leon Talley with designer Stella McCartney. PatrickMcMullan.com via AP Images

Anyone who knows fashion has heard of Andre Leon Talley. Besides being a man about town — seen at fashion and celebrity events — Talley is a longtime Vogue contributing fashion editor, served as a fashion correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, and was a former judge on America’s Next Top Model where he frequently declared that contestant photos had reached low levels of “dreckitude.” 

Now Talley is bringing his fabulousness to late-night TV. He just signed a deal with Electus to create his own talk show. He’ll also serve as co-executive producer. The show will most likely land on a cable network.

Talley told Womens Wear Daily (via The Grio) that he and Electus are designing a show that mixes “eloquence and sophistication with unparalleled access into my international fashion lifestyle. A forum where unique stories will be told and inspirations shared.”

There is other news for Talley. While he will still contribute to Vogue, he is exploring other special projects within Conde Nast publishing. Talley first started working for Vogue in 1983, after spending a year at Ebony as fashion editor. According to Talley’s Vogue bio, he left the magazine for two years in 1995 and moved to Paris to work for W.  And in 2003 he released A.L.T.: A Memoir  followed by a second book, ALT 365+ , in 2005.

It’s clear to see that Quvenzhané Wallis is sitting on top of the world. The adorable nine-year-old had the chance to meet and sit with the enigmatic yet lovable editor-at-large for Vogue, André Leon Talley. During their sit-down, she talked about her love of music, how “fashion is her kryptonite,” her fondness for partying with the Hollywood elite and reminds us of the sheer sadness one experiences when they accidentally forget to do their homework. This was all part of Talley’s famous “Mondays with Andre” interview series.

Full of dramatic movements and a whole lot of cuteness, the Hollywood starlet named some of her favorite musicians (Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Demi Lovato, etc.), and when asked how she found the time to listen to all these big celebrities, Wallis hilariously realized that she forgot to do her homework for the day. Other cute highlights of the interview include her talking about her love for going to Hollywood parties, especially ones thrown in her honor, the pink electric scooter she received for Christmas, the two dogs she’s received since she started and finished working on Beasts of  the Southern Wild (and how they don’t get along) and why she won’t be rocking a long gown on the Academy Award’s red carpet like everyone else (she’s afraid she might trip and embarrass herself). At only a little over two minutes, there’s a lot of funny and cute things happening in Wallis’ interview (including her dancing to Rihanna and singing Frank Ocean at the end), so you should definitely check it out since everything this little lady touches is golden. I’m really looking forward to seeing her on the red carpet, as well as in more big movies, because she can act like nobody’s business. Enjoy!

Image: Tom + Lorenzo

Did you see FLOTUS at the DNC Convention last night? Vogue editor-at-large said it best in this tweet last night:

Michelle Obama: You ARE the Best of the American Spirit. Its not the clothes you wear, its your grace, your kindness, your caring. PURE JOY

But just for the record, the dress was a custom Tracy Reese worn with suede J.Crew shoes. According to Tom + Lorenzo, they were not only getting bombarded with questions about the First Lady’s outfit but the shade of her nail polish. “[T]o which we have to respond ‘Really?’” they write. No really. I was curious about it too. We’ve seen a couple of people predict that those shoes (in “rhubarb”) will probably sell out. And she could do for Tracy Reese (already a popular designer) what she did for Jason Wu. Reese has already got a story on today’s Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog, which notes that the First Lady wore Tracy Reese on the cover of Ebony previously.

Michelle Obama’s riveting speech overtook Mitt Romney’s GOP Convention speech last week on the Twitter leaderboard, peaking at 28,003 tweets per minute versus Romney’s high point of 14,289 per minute, Politico reports. Here, the site lists what it thinks are her top 10 lines from the speech. And here’s coverage of the speech from another of the night’s notable speakers, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.

And as we noted yesterday, Michelle Obama focused on the middle class and President Obama’s values.

“The address was meant to lay the foundation for a convention program devised to remind wavering working- and middle-class voters — the same ones Mr. Romney is working so hard to woo away — what they liked about the president when they supported him four years ago, and how his own humbler roots have helped inspire his policies to help them,” The New York Times says. Moreover, the speech painted a personal picture of the President and the life he has shared with Michelle. We watched on MSNBC and Chris Matthews, post-speech, noted how the camerawork caught the emotion of the attendees, rapt and even a little teary-eyed as they listened.

“Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it,” she said.

Coming in at nearly six feet (mostly legs) with skin the color of mahogany and distinctive facial features and expressions that would put Nicki Minaj to shame, Grace Jones was, is and will always be a style phenomenon. Before chicks like Lady Gaga were wearing provocative outfits to the airport, Grace Jones was rocking damn-near outlandish ensembles just about everywhere. From her actual clothing, which was so iconic thanks in part to the help of stylist Jean-Paul Goude (the father of her son Paulo by the way), to her hair and sheer presence, Jones made every arrival at every event a party. While most starlets are going for Hollywood classic glamor and want to look as normal as possible, I miss the crazy, androgynous style Ms. Jones ushered in. So here’s an ode to the “Pull Up to the Bumper” Jamaican-American singer in all her eclectic glory over the years, along with a few timeless things I learned from her.

By Steven Barboza

Fashion designer Tracy Reese

America’s cultural and political landscape is a kaleidoscope of bright colors, and black is prominent among them.  We have had African American Academy Awards winners every year lately. Black singers and rappers rule the charts. Black chefs just might be cooking your chicken cordon bleu regardless of whose name is on the restaurant sign out front. Oprah is queen of TV land. And a black family occupies the White House.

But when it comes to who is dressing America, 30% of whose population is nonwhite, the issue isn’t so clear. Fashion runways and photo spreads are overwhelmingly white. And black designers are hardly common figures in leading fashion houses.

African Americans alone spent $27 billion on apparel in 2008, according to Target Market News. While that is a hefty sum, it pails when compared to the total spent by all Americans. Last year, Americans spent $326 billion on clothing and footwear last year, according to the University of Michigan.

Still, are we getting good value in terms of diversity in fashion? And what of black designers? If Americans can celebrate black actors on the screen, why aren’t we honoring blacks’ pursuits in couture?

The heroes of black fashion are few and far between. But they do exist.

Tracy Reese perhaps ranks as fashion’s most successful black female designer. Of course, it always helps when the First Lady models your designs, as Michelle Obama has done for Reese.  The whole world witnessed Michelle deplane Air Force One in a Tracy Reese blue and white dress, and she opted for a $395 Reese dress for the cover shot of People Magazine.

New York Magazine called Reese’s style “unabashedly girly.” She has a namesake label and has garnered recognition in many areas, from clothing and shoes to nail polish and hosiery.

She perhaps succeeded because she always knew what she wanted. “From a young age I knew I wanted to create

Tracy Reese Spring 2010 Collection

beautiful things,” Tracy told the Atlanta Post. “I was influenced by the femininity of women like my grandmother. After growing up in Detroit, I moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design. Once I received my degree, I decided to move to Paris where I apprenticed under designer Martine Sitbon while working for the small contemporary firm, Arlequin. A few years later, I returned to New York and started working for Perry Ellis as the design director for Women’s Portfolio.”

By age 23, her collections were being sold in Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, and Ann Taylor. Her company’s sales topped $12 million in 2003.  Still, she is engrossed in every detail of her clothes, right down to the stitching.  “While I have a wonderful team to assist, I continue to build my brand with my own hands,” she said.

Was dressing the First Lady the pinnacle of her career? Not really. “While seeing my dress on First Lady Michelle Obama was one of the proudest moments of my career, I still design for the everyday woman,” she said. “I design because I want women to feel good in what they wear and to help solve their wardrobe problems.  Nothing is more satisfying than seeing a woman walking confidently in one of my frocks. It is also nice for the everyday woman to see the First Lady wearing something that they can also obtain.”