The larger-than-life former Editor-at-Large for Vogue Andre Leon Talley, who parted with the magazine roughly a year ago has signed on to be Artistic Director for Zappos’s couture website.
Since his departure from Vogue, Tally has been busy working as Editor-at-Large for the Russian version of Numéro magazine. There was even mention of a television show, the details of which have yet to be revealed. Most recently he interviewed Diane von Furstenberg for Entertainment Tonight.
Zappos Couture has been on the internet since 2004, but has had a difficult time getting luxury brands and designers to feature their producst on the site. “I have some amazing relationships with a lot of CEOs of these [luxury] companies, but he brings something else to the table, and that’s his relationship with the designers,” the head of Zappos Couture told fashionista.com.
“I took the job because I felt that this was a new experiment that I needed to have going toward the future because digital and online is so important in today’s world,” Mr. Talley told The New York Times telling the paper that that the job will change his perception of products. “I was looking at shoes at the store I just left today, and I didn’t think, ‘Oh, those shoes I like,’ ” he said. “I thought, ‘Will that customer respond to that shoe in a picture on their computer?’ ”
The company is hoping that the addition of Talley with his resume will bring the website a boost in the public eye.
Talley will be in charge of directing and and cultivating the site’s creative vision with editorial content that includes an increased focus on video content.
—Alejandro Ramos
