When I imagined a documentary film about New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, I thought he would be a rich and famous zillionaire sort of like Richard Avedon. I imagined Bill Cunningham dressed all in black with a cigarette hanging from his lip as he took photos of street fashion in New York City. I imagined Bill Cunningham traveling with an entourage of wafer-thin models and fashionistas. In reality, nothing can be further from this stereotyped image of a famous fashion maven.
Who Is Bill Cunningham?
Bill Cunningham New York (2010) is a solid documentary film that introduces us to the unique and unusual life of this modest trend spotter and photographer. For over 30 years, Cunningham has cruised the streets of New York via bicycle to capture fashion trends for the New York Times. This grand arbiter of fashion wears modest and unfashionable clothing with not even a stylish bike helmet to protect his noggin whilst hunting for New Yorkers who look fabulous, or at least, very interesting.
Modest Maven
While Cunningham is considered incredibly influential in the fashion field, he lives in a rent-controlled room in Carnegie Hall. Yes, I said Carnegie Hall. It turns out that one of the purposes of Carnegie Hall was to provide low-income and communal housing for artists and Bill Cunningham has lived here for several decades. We see Cunningham in his tiny living space surrounded by filing cabinets of photos and using a communal kitchen and bathroom shared with a few remaining and aging artists. And did I mention that Bill Cunningham is 80 years old? (And honestly, he doesn't look or sound a day over 70.)
So is Cunningham a millionaire miser? Does he sock away his millions yet live like a pauper? In the film Cunningham talks about tearing up his first few paychecks from the New York Times. As an artist and photographer, Cunningham seems to feel like accepting cash for his work is akin to creative slavery, a bond he does not want to forge.
While attending gallery openings, fashion shows, galas, and expensive fundraisers, Cunningham does not accept food or drink from his well-heeled hosts. Cunningham talks about maintaining a strictly professional relationship with his photographic subject matter. Cunningham equates payment, real or implied, with ownership and this is one photographer and artist who cannot be bought.
Perhaps one might think of Bill Cunningham as the creative opposite of other self-promotional artists like Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel. While some artists may equate success with money and status, Cunningham is a pure bohemian artist who has dug a moral trench around his creative freedom. His greatest weapons? A sunny smile and a golden eye.
Fashion Legacy of Bill Cunningham
The importance of the photographs of Bill Cunningham cannot be overstated. Part cool hunter, part social anthropologist, and part fashion arbiter, Cunningham was the only member of the media invited the 100th birthday party of millionaire socialite Brooke Astor. In 2008, Cunningham was awarded the Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for “significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance." Other American artists awarded this honor include: theater pioneer Richard Foremen, sociologist Ted Nelson, opera singer Frederica von Stade, artist Mark Podwal, and architect Leonard Jacobson. Then there's Bill Cunningham, a mainly self-taught artist and fashion icon who dropped out of Harvard.
Even if you have absolutely no interest in fashion photography, the documentary film Bill Cunningham New York is a fascinating glimpse into the life of this original American artist and iconoclast.
Running time: 84 minutes
Producer: Philip Gefter
Editing: Ryan Denmark
Mary Rayme - Mary Rayme is a graphic designer and arts educator with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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