Before Instagram’s online photo sharing in 2010, one of the first fashion websites I booked marked back in 2006 was The Sartorialist. Why? The site captures everyday women and men on the streets with their sartorial splendor. Another person has been crystallizing epic moments in and around Manhattan since 1978. That man, who remembers NYC street photographer Bill Cunningham?
Bill Cunningham loved fashion, but he loved style even more. According to the Business of Fashion, “a true cultural anthropologist, he knew that fashion didn’t come from designer catwalks or pages of magazines but was instead born from culture. And to him, the best place to find culture was on the street, so that’s where he went to work every day”.
Who was Bill Cunningham? The father of street-savvy photography In New York City. The Boston-born Harvard University dropout moved to Manhattan in 1958 to pursue a career as a milliner. Bill also worked at the exclusive couture salon, Chez Ninon.
When women stopped wearing hats in the 60s, Bill moved on to write about fashion. He wrote for Women’s Wear Daily and the Chicago Tribune. The photographer died on June 25, 2016, at 87 from a stroke, leaving a legacy of fashion photography.
According to online sources, Following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy sent Cunningham a red Balenciaga suit she purchased at Chez Ninon. Bill dyed it black, and Jackie wore it to the funeral.
As a self-taught photographer, Cunningham’s career at the New York Times spanned 40 years. His weekly Sunday column, “On The Streets,” covered themed collages that captured Bill’s fascination with fashion-forward people on the streets and high-society events.
A New York fixture on the streets of the Big Apple, his favorite snapping location being Fifth Avenue at 57th Street. It all started in 1978 with a candid capture of the reclusive Greta Garbo wearing a nutria-fur coat. Ms. Garbo almost slipped by unnoticed. This talent parlayed Bill into a full-time position at The New York Times until 2016.
Bill also cultivated his characteristic fashion signature: black sneakers, a blue smock jacket worn by Parisian street cleaners, and one single accessory, a camera. Bill lived modestly in a small apartment in the legendary Carnegie Studios above the concert hall.
Bill’s mode of transportation rode a bike. He went through 28 Schwinn bicycles, most stolen, some damaged in accidents. The only accessory, the camera of choice capturing the epic moments, is a Nikon.
Awards and Honors:
1983: The Council of Fashion Designers of America named Bill the outstanding photographer of the year
2008: Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture
2009: New York Landmarks Conservancy named Bill a “living landmark.”
2012: Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence
Documentary:
Bill Cunningham New York, 2010
Books:
Bill Cunningham: On The Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography, New York Times
The New York Historical Society honored Bill with an exhibit of the photographer’s possessions donated to the organization. The exhibit opened June 8 and ran through September 9, 2018.
The photographer left behind an enormous archive valued at $1 million, which the Cunningham family discovered with some surprise upon his death. Bill also left a written memoir titled Fashion Climbing: A Memoir With Photographs.
How about you? Are you familiar with Bill Cunningham? Yes or no, please do share your comments via this Facebook post or utilize Disqus.
As always, thank you for reading. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving🍁🦃
