Fashion Designer and Artistic Visionary
An openly gay Black man, AT was harassed as a child but grew up to be a positive force in the world of fashion.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
AT never knew his parents. From the time he was 2 months old, he was raised by his grandmother, who worked as a maid at the men’s campus of a (well known, nationally) university.
AT grew up schooled in the Southern church and good manners, idolizing the Kennedys (John Kennedy was U.S. President until assassinated 11/22/63; his father had been U.S. Ambassador to England; his wife, Jackie, was admired as a socialite; their children were often in the news, always sympathetically).
In what had to be a life-scarring situation, AT, very tall at a young age and not athletically inclined, was sometimes attacked with stones as he walked across the college campus with a women’s fashion magazine (“Vogue”) under his arm. He also claimed to have been sexually abused as a child.
Another AT obsession was the country of France, which in addition to dreaming about the lifestyle of the Kennedys, seemed to offer an escape from being treated as ‘different’ due to his size and mannerisms in the male oriented, college town where AT spent his early, formative years.
EDUCATION
Choosing to enroll in a college with a predominantly Black student body, AT majored in French studies and later earned a Master’s degree from an Ivy League school, where he wrote his thesis on “The influence of Black women in the writing of Baudelaire and Flaubert and the paintings of Delacroix.”
Editor’s note – Baudelaire was a French poet, essayist and art critic. Flaubert was a French novelist. Delacroix was a French artist.
“LUCKY” MEETING STARTS CAREER PATH
Editor’s note – Remember that among these career stories, we define ‘Luck” as experience meets opportunity. Several examples are within this collection of career stories: see MILITARY – MILITARY TO CIVILIAN CAREER TRANSITION; also see: GOVERNMENT – LOBBYIST)
A chance meeting with a fashion magazine editor based in New York City, convinced AT that he had to move to New York. Soon after arriving, he volunteered to assist Diana Vreeland, a French-American fashion columnist and editor, well known internationally when she worked for the fashion magazine, “Harper’s Bazaar.” At the time, Ms. Vreeland was involved with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Through working with her, AT wrote: “I learned to speak the language of style, fantasy and literature.”
AT’s friendships within the network of fashion provided him the opportunity to meet other celebrities within the worlds of art (Andy Warhol), fashion design (Yves Saint Laurent) and fashion magazines (Anna Wintour of Vogue).
FASHION CAREER PATH THROUGH MANY DIFFERENT JOBS
Eventually known mostly for his work as a fashion editor, AT’s career included receptionist at Interview magazine under Andy Warhol; the Paris bureau chief of Women’s Wear Daily under John Fairchild; the creative director and Editor-at large of “Vogue” under Anna Wintour; providing fashion advice to first lady Michelle Obama; friend and adviser to the designer Oscar de la Renta and mentor to the supermodel Naomi Campbell. Also: a judge on the TV reality show “America’s Next Top Model,” artistic director of the online retailer “Zappos”; adviser to a tech start-up and deeply involved with the Savannah College of Art and Design.
CAREER CHALLENGE – ‘FRIENDS’ DIS YOU BEHIND YOUR BACK
There were many in the fashion industry who loved AT for his talent. But, added an observer “It was also the case that there were others who exploited his talent and used it to their advantage, who never really gave him respect as a man and were condescending.”
Editor’s note – Perhaps because AT was literally a giant of a man (6’6”, over 300 lbs) who was openly gay, dressing himself in flamboyant colors, some folks who were glad to use his talents and persona to promote their own brands, but talked ‘behind his back’ in disapproving ways. AT must have heard about that from true friends or at least sensed those double standards, choosing to appear outwardly unbothered but he must have been disappointed to not be accepted for who he truly was.
CAREER SATISFACTION
AT was noted to be “A singular force in an industry that he had to fight to be recognized in.” Also, a creative genius who shaped a ‘persona’ for himself “out of a deep academic understanding of fashion and design.”
Another commentator said: “AT is one of the last of those great editors who knows what they are looking at, knows what they are seeing, knows where it came from.”
AT captured his personal, complex thoughts within his own memoir: “To my 12-year-old self, raised in the segregated South, the idea of a Black man playing any kind of role in this world seemed an impossibility. To think of where I’ve come from, where we’ve come from, in my lifetime, and where we are today, is amazing. And, yet, of course, we still have so far to go.”
