He was a living landmark; a kindly, passionate man with a blue jacket, bicycle, camera, and a big smile.
Now the legendary Bill Cunningham has died, and New York has become a little less stylish.
—
Cunningham was born and raised in Boston, in the year 1929. From a young age, he was obsessed with fashion.
“I could never concentrate on Sunday church services because I’d be concentrating on women’s hats.”
He was a stockboy and ad-man for Bonwit Teller, then, after a tour in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, returned to New York where he became a milliner. Over the next decade, Cunningham defined himself as the leading hat designer in the city, with one critic claiming that he’d “cornered the face-framing market with some of the most extraordinarily pretty cocktail hats ever imagined”. His clients included Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, and Jackie Kennedy.
As trends changed, Cunningham closed his store in 1962, and entered the world of fashion journalism, but it would be his presence on the streets of New York, rather than the side of a catwalk in Milan, for which he would be best remembered.
His series On the Street was first published in the December 1978 issue of The New York Times, captured candid snaps of the rich and famous, and became a staple of the publication. Cunningham’s favourite subjects, however, were those who embraced fashion without the pretext of social status. They were the likes of executive secretary Louise Doktor, and socialite Iris Apfel, who became icons as a result of Cunningham’s photography.
For all of his love of fashion, Cunningham himself blended effectively into a crowd with his blue French worker jacket, and khaki pants. During his career he rode over 30 bicycles, replacing them as they were inevitably stolen. Still, many recognised him, but very few, if any, knew him. The 2010 documentary Bill Cunningham New York attempted to provide insight into the photographer’s life, but provided more questions than answers as it searched for clues within his Carnegie Hall studio apartment, which had no kitchen or bathroom in order to allow more storage space for Cunningham’s filing cabinets filled with old negatives of images that would never be published. That never mattered.
Outside of the industry, Cunningham was a fierce champion for the gay community. His coverage of a 1979 Fire Island Pines fundraising event was the first of its kind to be covered by the paper. Over the next few decades he would write about AIDS benefits, pride parades, and the Wigstock drag festival.
In 2008, he was bestowed the French Legion of Honour. As he took the stage, Cunningham photographed the audience and exclaimed “It’s as true today as it ever was: he who seeks beauty will find it”.
Perhaps the best words on Bill Cunningham’s life are best left to a new icon on New York’s streets, Human of New York’s Brandon Stanton:
“…Mr. Cunningham remained a young man until he passed away yesterday. When I watched him work, I always kept my eyes on his smile. It was always there. And it held the secret to life. Bill Cunningham discovered what he loved, he did it every day, and he was joyous until the end. He figured it all out. And he pointed the way for the rest of us.”