Bill Cunningham: the street fashion photographer

I found this piece handwritten in an old journal as part of my graduate program in one of the courses that demanded constant reflection. I can’t exactly remember why I thought to write about Bill Cunningham at the time when he was still alive. Was it my unrealized obsession in fashion or was it how he was simply iconic and changed the fashion industry? 

Year: 2014
Location: San Diego

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(Source: https://nyti.ms/2PBNeJk)

Bill Cunningham, born in Boston 1929, is an American fashion photographer for the New York Times. Before becoming the well-known icon that he is, he was a Harvard student. For some reason, Cunningham dropped out of college and moved to New York where he became “Bill Cunningham; the street fashion photographer”.

His interest in fashion began when he was a journalist, writing and photographing, at Women’s Wear Daily. As part of his new hobby, he wandered around the streets of Manhattan anonymously taking photos of fashionable people walking around. He then published a collection of photos in the Times in 1978. Soon after that it became regularly issued. New Yorkers started to “get dressed for Bill,” as Anna Wintour said, the editor of Vogue Magazine.

Fashion icons would eagerly wait for the newspaper to come out every week to see Cunningham’s photos of street fashion. 

Like any New Yorker, Cunningham lived in a small apartment where there was no kitchen or any rooms for that matter. His bed placed in between filing cabinets which took most of the space (also happens to be the only room in the apartment). Every day, he would wake up, ride his bicycle and look for a standing-out outfit to photograph. 

With a theme in-mind, he would sometimes focus on a vibrant color, or a certain print popular that day. Other times focusing on certain accessories like bags or shoes on both men and women. 

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It is amazing to think about this person who dedicated his life into this inspiring project that motivated and encouraged young photographers around the world to follow his footsteps. Today, you would see a number of Instagrammers recreating his concept, bearing in mind that Bill Cunningham was the mastermind behind it and he would die in 2016 knowing that he changed the fashion world.