The Chiffon Trenches by Andre Leon Talley

 Was Anna Wintour really like the boss in The Devil Wears Prada? How much did Karl Lagerfield love his cat? What was Andy Warhol really like? Andre Leon Tally answers these questions and more in this glimpse into the world of high fashion. Full of tales about the 'rich and famous', it makes fascinating, but unusual reading.

Talley had a difficult start in life. Brought up by his grandmother in a poor family in the segregated South, he had a troubled relationship with his mother, and a hard time getting ahead. After going to North Carolina Central University, he won a scholarship to Brown University, Rhode Island His deep interest in French history and culture, which he studied at Brown,greatly helped him in his future career as a leading fashion journalist, especially when he worked in Paris.

After he won an unpaid internship to the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute, he was told to form pieces of chain metal from a dress worn by Lana Turner in The Prodigal into a dress. He managed to do it, and Diana Vreeland was so impressed that she taught him the 'language of style, fantasy and literature', and told him not to go back to Durham, North Carolina. He never looked back, becoming editor-at-large of Vogue in 1998. 

The book mainly concerns his strange relationships with his boss Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfield. They were both generous, friendly and caring one minute, but they'd cut people off suddenly, and for no good reason the next. Although both of them were certainly extremely generous, and good friends for a time, they treated Talley abominably in the end. 

Private jets, villas on the Riviera, free designer clothes, glamorous events -- this could seem like a shallow world. However, many of these people raise funds for charity, help their favourite political candidates, and help promising young people with their careers. The late Talley certainly wasn't a shallow person himself. He seemed to be a fairly deep thinker, perhaps because he'd come from another world. Unfortunately, he had a huge amount of trouble controlling his addiction to eating, because of his traumatic background, and he was also prone to depression, and seemed to be extremely lonely at times. His strong Baptist faith helped to keep him as balanced as it was possible for him to be, however.

I enjoyed this, but I won't read it again. It's been on the shelves since last year, so I read this for Rose City Reader's 23 in '23 Challenge