The Dark Story Of The Most Famous Male Supermodel—Albert Delègue

In the early 1990s, Albert Delègue was one of the five most famous male models in the world—the face of Giorgio Armani's fragrance in a multi-million-franc contract, photographed by Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts for Versace, Calvin Klein, and Valentino. His five-year career was a vertical rocket from ski instructor in rural France to the most photographed male face in global luxury fashion. Then in 1994, his agency said he'd been paralyzed by a skiing accident. On April 14, 1995, his family announced he had died from complications of that accident. Within five days, the French press began reporting the truth: Albert Delègue had died of AIDS-related encephalitis, a secret his family had concealed entirely—not just from the public, but from colleagues who had worked alongside him for years. This is the story of the man, the cover-up, and what it reveals about the fashion industry's relationship with the AIDS crisis at the height of its golden era.