For more than 40 years, André Leon Talley has influenced fashion and culture. But it wasn't easy

Early the morning Edward Enninful was announced as the new editor-in-chief of British Vogue in April 2017, he received an email applauding his historic appointment as the first black man to lead such a prestigious fashion imprint.

"Congratulations! You deserve it," it read, written by industry icon Andre Leon Talley.

Enninful replied: "You paved the way."

Those four words are what Talley calls his "proudest moment" in a career spanning nearly 45 years of reporting, editorializing and otherwise influencing the sartorial zeitgeist of generations past, present and still to come. After all, for so long he's been one of the only black voices in fashion with the kind of pull and sway that demands front row seats