Makeup Beat

According to WWD Andre is to come on board as a judge for cycle 14, which premieres March 10 on The CW, it was an easy sell. “I’ve seen the success of Tyra in many facets of her life,” said Talley, who first met Banks backstage at an Yves Saint Laurent show when she was 16. “So I felt maybe I could contribute something to it that had not been on the show. I just felt that it was a way to step out of the box and associate myself with a very important American success story, a very important brand — Tyra Banks.”

Though he’d never watched “Top Model,” he had “no hesitations at all.” Nor did his Vogue boss, Anna Wintour. “Her reaction,” said Talley, “was, ‘Fine, André. Just let me know when you’re going to do it and how it’s going.’” (Reached for comment, Wintour said through her spokesman, “André is always onto new things on television, and I think his latest adventure sounds like a lot of fun and I look forward to watching him on the program.”)

In cycle 14, Talley succeeds J. Alexander (who instead coaches the wannabe strutters) on the judging panel, which also includes Banks, photographer Nigel Barker and guest judges such as Whitney Port, Rachel Roy and Sally Hershberger.

Describing Talley’s appeal, Banks said, “A lot of people can speak about fashion, but it doesn’t necessarily translate to strong television. But André speaks about fashion and he has such a passion, and the words — the adverbs, the adjectives — he uses! I know it’s going to make the viewer at home go, ‘Wowww.’” Banks added, “It might go over their head, but he’s educating them about a time, bringing them back to a place when fashion was life.”

And Banks is betting that Talley, who signed on for three cycles, will help steer the show in a more high-fashion direction. “Reality television is very commercial. It’s very mass,” she noted. “The fashion industry is very elite, but I feel the fashion industry is catching up to reality television.”