Who will we dress for now?
That was the question on many heartbroken New Yorkers’ minds after media reported that Bill Cunningham, 87, had died following a recent stroke.
The question echoes a statement made by Vogue’s Anna Wintour on a documentary on the life of the legendary New York Times street photographer and unlikely cultural anthropologist. “We all get dressed for Bill,” the famous editor had said.
And many—not just New Yorkers, but also those who have sauntered into the Big Apple at one point—dreamed of running into the blue-jacketed, wiry old guy on a bike, almost as iconic as the city itself. A “living landmark,” the newspaper he worked for called him in its obituary—not only to be photographed by him, but to be photographed with him.
A one-time hat designer, Cunningham attended Harvard on a scholarship but dropped out after only a month. He switched to photography, and started chronicling the evolving sartorial habits of people he met on the streets. He shot not just models, socialites and celebrities, but mostly the man and woman on the street. He did this for decades, and nearly 40 years for the New York Times.
Filipino connection
Cunningham—for a little Filipino connection—is credited by Philippine-born Stephen Gan, the editor of Visionnaire and V Magazine, and creative director of US Harper’s Bazaar, as the first person to lead him to a job in magazines.
Cunningham took interest in the 18-year-old Gan—who moved to New York in 1986 to study at Parsons—when he saw the Filipino student dressed in a Gaultier-inspired skirt-and-pants outfit of his own making. The older man took photos of Gan and even bought him coffee.
Cunningham saw something in the young man, such that he advised Gan to call Annie Flanders, then editor of Details magazine.
The photographer also advised Gan to go to Paris to soak up the scene. The young man heeded the advice and moved to the French capital for nine months. They would bump into each other at the shows.
“He would help me sneak into shows by giving me his invitations,” Gan told the New York Times. “Once, as I was leaving a show, I felt something in my pocket. It was a $50 bill. He had slipped it into my pocket.”
Cunningham was known for being extremely modest and frugal.
In his street chronicles, Cunningham also photographed Filipino fashionistas on the streets, like the bloggers Bryanboy and The Bag Hag (Ingrid Chua). On social media, a host of Filipino fans have also shared their own snaps with Cunningham on the streets of New York, following news of his passing.