Anna Wintour pays tribute to André Leon Talley after being criticized for not releasing a statement about his death sooner

• André Leon Talley died on Tuesday at age 73 from unknown causes in a New York hospital.
• Talley's former boss and friend, Anna Wintour, made a statement about his death on Wednesday.

Fashion industry icon André Leon Talley died on Tuesday in White Plains, New York, at the age of 73.

Talley's death was confirmed in a post shared on his Instagram page. The post did not include a cause of death, but Vogue's obituary for Talley states that he died from a heart attack.

Talley worked as Vogue's creative director from 1987 to 1995, and then as the magazine's editor-at-large from 1998 to 2013. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Diane von Furstenberg, and Marc Jacobs expressed their condolences right after Talley's death was announced on Tuesday. However, statements from Vogue and Wintour were noticeably absent, which led to criticism on social media.

Variety's chief television critic Daniel D'Addario tweeted that he hadn't seen any mention of Talley's death on Vogue's homepage at 8:34 a.m. on Wednesday.

Another Twitter user called out Vogue for tweeting as normal and saying nothing.

Others tweeted that Vogue's silence about Talley's death was odd considering he worked at the brand for so many years.

On Wednesday, at around 10 a.m. ET, Wintour's statement was shared on Vogue's website.

"The loss of André is felt by so many of us today: the designers he enthusiastically cheered on every season, and who loved him for it; the generations he inspired to work in the industry, seeing a figure who broke boundaries while never forgetting where he started from; those who knew fashion, and Vogue, simply because of him; and, not forgetting, the multitude of colleagues over the years who were consistently buoyed by every new discovery of André's, which he would discuss loudly, and volubly — no one could make people more excited about the most seemingly insignificant fashion details than him. Even his stream of colorful faxes and emails were a highly anticipated event, something we all looked forward to," she said.

Wintour added: "Yet it's the loss of André as my colleague and friend that I think of now; it's immeasurable. He was magnificent and erudite and wickedly funny — mercurial, too."

Despite working together for so many years, Wintour and Talley's relationship became publicly strained after his 2020 memoir, "The Chiffon Trenches." In the book, Talley called Wintour "ruthless" and incapable of "human kindness," according to The Telegraph.

Wintour addressed their roller-coaster friendship in her statement, saying: "Like many decades-long relationships, there were complicated moments, but all I want to remember today, all I care about, is the brilliant and compassionate man who was a generous and loving friend to me and to my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss so much."

It is unclear where Talley and Wintour's relationship stood at the time of his death.

Representatives for Talley, Wintour, and Vogue did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.