show & tell

André Leon Talley Is Vera Wang’s Biggest Fan

It seemed everyone was a fan of Vera Wang’s show this afternoon, presented in her new Mercer Street store instead of the tents where she usually shows. André Leon Talley was perhaps the biggest — he was certainly the loudest. He loved the stark white bi-level space so much, in fact, that after the show he made it clear he had no intention of going anywhere. Making a grand entrance from the backstage area to the lower level where Vera was doing interviews, swathed in his favorite red-and-black robe, he sat himself down on a bench against the wall a few feet down from Vera, as if it were his new throne. Though he told a passerby, “Business is hard this week,” he looked so content on this seventh day of Fashion Week you’d think he’d just had a massage or was sunning himself in St. Barts. He sent an assistant off to get him coffee, requesting “lots and lots of milk.” We half-expected him to call a moving van to fetch his things so he could take up residence. We could feel the Vera love.

André even boisterously helped Vera with her interviews, leaning in to thunderously interject, “It was wonderful,” slapping his hand down on the bench, his eyes wide and unblinking. Cue PR-girl crack-up. André didn’t hear them, so fixed was he on Vera and her magnificence. When Vera was between interviews he called out, “Baby, you have to show here forever.” He turned to a lady sitting next to him. “Don’t you agree? Don’t you agree?!” Back to Vera: “It’s fabulous with your image and what you’re doing now.”

What IS she doing now? For fall 2009 she showed coats, corsets, and skirts made from black scuba material; organza dresses; and skinny “techno” pants (which sounded like wind pants when the models walked) in a mostly dark palette. She also showed a number of lovely dresses with sequin embellishments. But showing in her store, which took her three years to build, was a bit of a headache. “We had to clear out the whole store,” a PR rep noted with exasperation. Vera said the tents are costly but the efficiency afforded there is worth the price. “There’s no room back there,” Vera lamented motioning to her backstage area. “There’s literally no room.” But, since André insisted repeatedly, she can’t go back to the tents. We hope she doesn’t, too.

André Leon Talley Is Vera Wang’s Biggest Fan