DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Andre Leon Talley, fashion journalist and style arbiter, has helped shape the look of several glossy publications like Vogue and Vanity Fair for decades.
KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, BYLINE: A certain echelon of the media world anxiously awaited Andre Leon Talley's book.
BATES: And what he thinks as a majestically sized African American who is often the only black man in very elite environments is informed by his beginnings in segregated Durham, N.C. Talley's parents worked in Washington, D.C., and he lived with his grandmother, Mrs. Bennie Frances Davis.
Oh, I just might shout...
BATES: Style was on display every Sunday when Talley and his grandmother would meet other family members at church.
BATES: Writing the profile of Michelle Obama in 2009 for the cover of Vogue's power issue, getting Jennifer Hudson placed on the cover as she was starring in "Dreamgirls," writing about the significance of Beyonce's choice of Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in its 125-year history - Andre Leon Talley's artful advocacy helped these things happen in his half-century in the fashion industry.
