>>  Andre Leon Talley, self-professed "big proponent of the man-bag" and owner of a custom-made Diane von Furstenberg caftan, is also a big proponent of shopping high and low, he tells Time Out New York: "You cannot live your life in the elitist world of fashion and not step out or you’re disconnected. You have to realize that fashion is not the endgame. I started wearing Uggs two years ago. It’s a cozy shoe. Also, they’re only $98."  In fact, at home, he wears "Juicy Couture shorts, a Ralph Lauren polo shirt and Uggs."  But don't expect him to wear Crocs. "I draw the line at Uggs."

He took up horseback riding and tennis after Anna Wintour prompted him to lose weight, but isn't afraid to split a chocolate creme brulee "just for a taste!"  When Time Out asked him if he though of the Vogue offices as "a mecca of skinniness," he responded:

The Vogue offices are full of what I call very annnnnnnngular women wearing stilettos, and maybe that’s just the consciousness — that people think that they need this look when they work at Vogue. But Grace Coddington does not fit that mold and she’s elegant. Look at Michelle Obama, she’s the most fashionable woman in America. But she’s not a fashion plate.

Golden Girls is "one of the greatest shows ever" »

>> Andre Leon Talley to Judge Miss Universe, Has a Personal Photographer —Last night, Donald Trump revealed on David Letterman that Andre Leon Talley, who he called "a tremendous character and a really talented man," is one of the judges for this year's Miss Universe pageant.  The show airs live from the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas this Sunday, Aug. 23, 9/8 pm Central on NBC, and one can only hope that he'll have a one-liner to live up to his "famine of beauty" line from The September Issue.  Wonder if his personal photographer will be there on the scene? [Grazia, Gawker]

>> Andre Leon Talley Almost Didn't Make the Final Cut of The September Issue —Last night, The September Issue director RJ Cutler made an appearance at the SoHo Apple Store in New York, revealing that in the process of editing down the enormous amount of footage he had, Andre Leon Talley was actually entirely eliminated from a late-stage cut of the film.  He mentioned that after Anna Wintour saw a rough cut of the film, she had a long list of suggestions — perhaps one of them was getting ALT back, because as we know, he and his "famine of beauty" are definitely in the final cut. [The Shophound]

>> Flats Get the Anna Wintour Seal of Approval? —Vogue has started pushing for a flats comeback — Andre Leon Talley posted a pro-flat treatise last month, and days later the staff gushed over oxfords — but when Anna Wintour starts wearing them to events in place of her usual Manolo Blahnik heels — like the slides she chose for the 2009 Hampton Designer Showcase over the weekend — it's worth taking note. We know from The September Issue, that if Anna wants jackets, designers and retailers give her jackets; surely the same can be said for flats. [Chic Report]

>> Still no clues about why Anna Wintour skipped couture in Paris last week, but now we know why Andre Leon Talley was spotted at a Whole Foods in Raleigh, North Carolina, neighboring on Durham, where he grew up, instead of watching the latest handsewn creations from Lacroix, Dior, and Chanel waltz by.  

Talley was noshing on "Southern ham and baked chicken," he writes, along with 200 other guests July 5 (the day before couture began) at a brunch hosted by Dr. Maya Angelou at her compound in Winston-Salem: "At the end of the afternoon, everyone listened to Dr. Angelou, seated at her writing table in her family room, as she shared her thoughts on the importance of sharing this kind of reunion, a celebration of 'Who we are.'"

The night before, he wore a white robe »

>> Isabella Blow, discoverer of Stella Tennant, Sophie Dahl, Hussein Chalayan, Philip Treacy, Alexander McQueen — and muse to the latter two — passed away at 48 a little over two years ago after ingesting weedkiller.  The motive was suspected to be a recent ovarian cancer diagnosis; Blow had a history of at least two suicide attempts, one involving her throwing herself from the elevated Hammersmith Flyover road in London.

Needless to say, there's a story to be told, and two different biographies, both scheduled for 2010, are in the works, reports the New York Observer. The first, Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow, is co-written by Isabella's husband of 18 years, Detmar Blow, and author Tom Sykes, who first met Isabella when he was 20 and his sister Plum Sykes was her assistant at Vogue.  

Anna Wintour will be interviewed »

>> After pulling double-duty last New York Fashion Week as both runway walker and interviewer for E! Canada, her one-hour special, "Coco Rocha Fashion Attack in NYC," premiered in Canada on June 15.  Last night, she hosted a screening for friends — including her best friend Behati Prinsloo — who missed out the first time at the Bryant Park Hotel, and finally, some clips have surfaced that can be watched in the US, including interviews with Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley talking about a cape he bought at a bullfighters' outfitters in Madrid.  At the screening, she said of the experience: “In the end of it all, I was so excited to be done with it. But when everyone went home I was like, more!”

The clips! »

>> Is fashion finally getting sick of the shoe silhouette that has so pervaded the last few years — the painfully high heel?  Carine Roitfeld, notorious for her pro-heel stance, was snapped recently at a luncheon in Cannes wearing flats; Francisco Costa shod all of his Cruise 2010 models in brogues and flat boots, and Vogue's Mark Holgate noted at yesterday's Cruise 2010 Yves Saint Laurent presentation that even "the house that started the platform craze is coming down off them."

Today, Andre Leon Talley dedicated a whole Vogue Daily post to the phenomenon, observing that at a recent Alexander Wang Cruise 2010 appointment, "Meredith Melling Burke . . . walked in off the elevator in a beige 3.1 Phillip Lim chesterfield and beige trousers tucked into an impeccable black pair from Miu Miu — that were completely flat! A sign of things to come?"

He's not finished »

>> Andre Leon Talley has been eliciting remarks for the rose-hued Prada coat and "raspberry velvet" custom-made Manolo Blahnik sandals he's been wearing around town to the resort shows — Diane von Furstenberg's and Oscar de la Renta's among them — but he had some remarks of his own on the 60 Minutes profile of Anna Wintour.

"I was really impressed with their research," Andre told Mediabistro yesterday, adding that he found reporter Morley Safer to be "a bit dismissive" of fashion and its players, particularly when he likened Karl Lagerfeld to Dracula — "He's had that look for eight years!"  As for Anna's thoughts on the piece, Andre said that she was "thrilled. It's 60 Minutes — she was on the same show as Secretary Gates. It was fabulous."

Other things that are "fabulous" »