Dressing for Bill: Remembering iconic streetstyle photographer William Cunningham

29 June 2016 - 02:00 By Yaone Refentse
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On June 25 2016 William “Bill” Cunningham jnr died at the age of 87 in New York City after being hospitalised for a stroke. Cunningham was a fashion photographer for The New York Times, and best known for his candid and street photography

Photographer Bill Cunningham working during Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014 on October 1, 2013 in Paris, France.
Photographer Bill Cunningham working during Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014 on October 1, 2013 in Paris, France.
Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Bill Cunningham, whose work can be considered a branch of cultural anthropology, was a habitual presence on the fashionable streets of New York, Paris and London for decades.

“The main thing I love about street photography is that you find the answers you don’t see at the fashion shows” said Cunningham. His focus, as he worked on the streets of Manhattan, was on clothing as individual expression.

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He preferred to photograph personal style as opposed to celebrities, stating that “the best fashion show is definitely on the street. Always has been, and always will.”

 In an article he wrote in 2002 for the New York Times, he commented: “I think fashion is as vital and as interesting today as ever. Fashion is doing its job. It’s mirroring exactly our times.”

His muse, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, said: “I don’t know how many times he has taken my photograph, but we all dress for Bill.

You feel he’s the only one who notices or cares how you dress. I wonder if Bill will like this. And it’s always a flattering picture he chooses.”

Cunningham was named the outstanding photographer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1983 and was elected a Living Landmark by The New York Landmarks Conservatory for “outstanding contributions” to the city in 2009.

Upon receiving an award from the French Ministry of Culture in 2008, he photographed the audience and told them: “It’s as true today as it ever was: he who seeks beauty will find it.”

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