The fashion sale of the century

André Leon Talley has amassed heaps of Louis Vuitton, Versace, Chanel and Fendi. Now it's all about to be auctioned off to benefit black churches.

Barrier-breaking black fashion editor André Leon Talley was famous for his love of extravagant things and extravagant gestures. For having traveled the world in a fabulous designer kaftan and an imposing fur hat, a set of monogrammed Louis Vuitton trunks by his side as he unfolded his declarations: on beauty, on designers, on the meaning of life.< /p>

So after his death in January 2022 without heirs, speculation began: what would become of the collections he had amassed over the decades and accumulated in his houses in White Plains, N.Y., and Durham, N.C., an Aladdin's cave of artifacts that represented a certain style of luxury in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries?

Would they be left at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Mr Talley began his career assisting Diana Vreeland at the Costume Institute, and where he often presided over Vogue's Met Gala red carpet live broadcast? Would they go to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where Mr. Talley had curated the Oscar de la Renta and “Little Black Dress” exhibits? Would they be used to establish a scholarship in his name at Brown University, where he earned his master's degree?

"Andre was very, very specific," said Alexis E. Thomas, the executor of his estate. "He left a very clear will."

And that was: sell. Sell ​​it (almost) everything. Proceeds will be shared between Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, where he grew up. Communities that represented his private life, where he had been an active (and militant) member for decades, and where he had marched for change alongside.

" Basically, what Andre did was monetize his fashion assets to ensure the financial viability of two very important black religious institutions,” said Darren Walker, chairman of the Ford Foundation and friend of Mr. Talley since 1995. p>

Exactly what that means will be on display this week as Christie's unveils "The Collection of André Leon Talley", a 448-lot auction that will begin a three-city tour on January 18 in Palm Beach, Florida, just after Martin Luther King Day. The tour will continue to Paris (during Couture) and New York (during Fashion Week) and conclude with an auction in live of 68 lots on February 15, during Black History Month (the rest of the sale will open online from January 27. ). The timing is no coincidence.

ImageM. Talley protesting police brutality with members of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in 2006.Credit...Alexis E. Thomas

This is to mark the final grand gesture of an editor who has been often cited as an inspiration to black designers, models and editors, but who has also been accused of not doing enough to force fashion gatekeepers to face their own complicity in industry racism; to pander to their prejudice and blindness in order to maintain his most favored status and to trade his intellect and knowledge for the allure of a Charvet shirt or a Chanel tennis racket.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"> "Andre, like most of us, just wanted to be liked," Mr.