Tyra Banks is adding high-fashion credentials to America'S Next Top Model - she's recruited Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley to the hit series' judging panel.

Tyra Banks first approached larger-than-life Andre Leon Talley when she was planning the TV contest in 2002 - but she's only now managed to convince the veteran trendsetter to join the show, which has become a ratings hit and spawned spin-offs across the globe.

Andre Leon Talley tells Women's Wear Daily, "At that point, I said no because it was the beginning. I was thinking I wanted to see where it goes...

"I felt maybe (now) I c ould 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."

And Tyra Banks is confident Andre Leon Talley will improve the competition, adding, "Andre 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, 'Wow.' It might go over their head, but he's educating them about a time, bringing them back to a place when fashion was life."

Andre Leon Talley has agreed to film three seasons of the series, the first of which airs on 10 March (10).