“I don’t care about the celebrities. It’s the clothes!” says New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. For nearly 50 years he’s been capturing fashions at their best in the most candid of moments on New York’s streets. Now, the documentary “Bill Cunningham New York” has recreated the flair of his photography while still getting to know the man inside the clothes.
Cunningham’s column “On the Street” (which you can see in its audio form here) is best at capturing life in the heat of the moment. He’s an 80-year-old man peddling a bicycle through alleyways and busy roads, blending in to highlight the things that stand out. In his visual column, he selects from hundreds of photographs to point out trends in fashion for the week or season.
Yet he’s an old-fashioned journalist wonderfully versed in modern trends. He selects photos from their negatives and lives in near shambles in basically a filing cabinet inside Carnegie Hall. Dressed in a frumpy blue smock and donning a beret and a big, droopy smile, Cunningham is a wonderfully upbeat, fun, congenial and good-hearted person.
Fashionistas, designers and other photographers speak to how he always focused on the narrative in fashion and never tried to depict people at their worst. He’s a deeply happy human being with no needs other than to work and see people live and look good. Continue reading “Bill Cunningham New York”