André Leon Talley, the former creative director and editor-at-large of Voguemagazine, has died aged 73.

And at six feet six inches tall with countless iconic outfit moments over the years, Talley was a powerful and influential figure wherever he went, often side-by-side with Anna Wintour.

To pay tribute to Talley, we take a look back at his life, including his childhood, his rise to the top of the fashion industry's elite - the drama that came with that - and finally the legacy he leaves behind.

Watch: Met Gala fashion. Post continues below.

Video via Mamamia.

Andre Leon Talley's childhood.

Talley was born in 1948 and raised by his grandmother Bennie in Durham, North Carolina.

"Bennie Frances Davis may have looked like a typical African American domestic worker to many of the people who saw her on an ordinary day, but I, who could see her soul, could also see her secret: that even while she wore a hairnet and work clothes to scrub toilets and floors, she wore an invisible diadem," he wrote in his 2003 memoir.

"My mother figure to this day is my grandmother. She gave me unconditional love and her home, her values, were my arc of safety," Talley told The Guardian in 2020.

Sadly throughout his childhood, Talley experienced bullying and sexual abuse. The first abuser was a man who lived on their street. Later, there were older brothers of friends.

André Leon Talley Opens Up About Childhood Sexual Abuse in New Memoir The Chiffon Trenches | https://t.co/O4SjJMePjd https://t.co/BvSANZ1TNK

— Grace Episcopal Alexandria Survivors (@GraceAlexWatch)

"It began when I was nine years of age, and it was serial. My whole life has been determined by this trauma. I can say this now. I don’t know how to be intimate and in a relationship, and I regret that. It comes from this childhood trauma."

For Talley, reading fashion magazines was a form of escapism amid the violence.

"I was allowed to retreat from the bullying and the sexual abuse into a beautiful world," he shared.

How André Leon Talley got his start in fashion.

Talley worked assorted jobs before arriving in New York in the 1970s. He received a scholarship to study at the prestigious Brown University and received a master's in French Literature.

As a young adult, he worked as a park ranger in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, where he told visitors about slaves who built Fort Washington and dressed up like a Civil War soldier.

But it was the fashion realm where Talley wanted to work the most.

Talley's relationship withVoguestarted at Duke University, where his grandmother cleaned dorm rooms. In his youth, Talley would walk to campus to read the magazine in the library.

He soon met renowned fashion editor Diana Vreeland, the pair striking up a friendship that lasted until her death in 1989. During her life, she had worked forHarper's Bazaarand as editor-in-chief atVogue, later becoming a special consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her influence was therefore instrumental to Talley's career.

André Leon Talley working with Diana Vreeland on a Marlene Dietrich ensemble for the Costume Institute’s “Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design” exhibit at The Met. Photographed by Bill Cunningham (November 1974) pic.twitter.com/qveczT1hI8

— archivealive (@archivealive)

After stints withInterview MagazineandWomen's Wear Daily, Talley was hired atVoguein 1983 by editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

Then in 1988, he was appointed creative director.

Andre Leon Talley's career triumphs.

Of course Talley's tenure atVoguewas one of his biggest career triumphs, making the masthead what it is today.

After holding the position of creative director for seven years, he became Vogue'seditor-at-large, a position that he held until 2013. He then continued working withVogueuntil 2018. Along with editing, Talley was also a fashion journalist, his contributions featured inWomen's Wear Daily, WMagazineand theNew York Times.

Talley was also a familiar figure to television audiences, serving as a judge onAmerica's Next Top Modeland appearances onSex and the CityandEmpire.

Not to mention his countless famous friends and work colleagues, often photographed together front row at fashion shows in New York and throughout Europe.

Ultimately, Vanity Fair summed it up best in 2013 in a spread titledThe Eyeful Towerwhere they described Talley as "perhaps the industry's most important link to the past", which recognised his influence in shaping fashion into what it is today.

As Designer Tom Ford said, Talley was "one of the last great fashion editors who had an incredible sense of fashion history. He can see through everything you do to the original reference, predict what was on your inspiration board".

Andre Leon Talley on "being a Black man in the white world of fashion".

In his 2020 memoir,The Chiffon Trenches, Talley reflected on his experiences of racism.

In the '70s, one fashion PR had referred to him as "Queen Kong". Another terrible instance was when a colleague accused him of being what he described as "a black buck".

But when it came to his work, Talley said he didn't think about being a Black man in the white world of fashion. He told The Guardian in 2020, "I earned my position not because I was beautiful, skinny, but because I had done my homework and my degrees. I never thought about being a man of colour in my career until recently."

In his book he wrote: "For the most part I barely noticed it and only now, looking back, do I realise the blinders I had to keep on in order to survive."

With a greater appreciation for his culture and history in his later age, Talley said at the time: "I'm a descendant of enslaved people, and this is always in my mind. Whatever I articulate must in some way reflect who I am and what I can impart to the history of fashion, as this Black person who was able to be in the front row."

Talley was also instrumental in pushing for more Black models to appear both in the magazine and on the runway of fashion shows.

He also styled Michelle Obama and attended Barack Obama’s inauguration with designer Diane von Furstenberg in 2009, becoming a regular stylist for the Obamas during some of Barack's presidency.

Talley also endured and played a key role in the firstVoguecover ever photographed by a black photographer, the 2018 shoot with Beyoncé by photographer Tyler Mitchell.