Talley explains:
Inspired by his addiction to style and the fashion worlds from New York to Paris, Diddy’s new album, Last Train to Paris (to be released December 14), is a brilliant fusion of stream of consciousness and beats that bring to mind the broken cadences of avant-garde jazz. During Fashion Week last year, he sent out the call via e-mail and voice mail to high-fashion friends to come to his studio to participate in the record. I was somewhere doing what I usually do—previewing a collection or sitting around on the fourth floor of Manolo Blahnik’s midtown shoe emporium—when I received the invitation. Rushing to his studio, I thought about what I would say on the album, which inspired his February 2010 Vogue fashion shoot with Natalia Vodianova, photographed by Annie Leibovitz and styled by Grace Coddington, in which he appeared with the swagger and elegance of Cary Grant in a gorgeous shawl-collared camel double-breasted coat by Tom Ford.Talley ended up doing a reading by James Baldwin “and Diddy respected it enough to leave it intact.” You can click on the first track at Vogue.com to hear that. Then Diddy comes on talking about how he “never knew love could feel like this.” I am super excited to press play on this album hopefully it's conceptual value won’t be a lost cause.
