We’re devastated to learn this morning that legendary, prolific fashion and street style photographer Bill Cunningham has passed away.
The photographer had photographed ‘moments in fashion history’ for nearly 40 years for The New York Times.
Acting as a fashion anthropologist, he was known for being one of the most dedicated names in fashion photography. An acclaimed documentary about his life and enthusiasm for the global fashion industry, called ‘Bill Cunningham New York’ was released in 2010.
Despite working in the fashion industry for decades, Cunningham led a simple life and wore a simple uniform to every luxury fashion event he’d attend. From the NYT:
“He didn’t go to the movies. He didn’t own a television. He ate breakfast nearly every day at the Stage Star Deli on West 55th Street, where a cup of coffee and a sausage, egg and cheese could be had until very recently for under $3.He lived until 2010 in a studio above Carnegie Hall amid rows and rows of file cabinets, where he kept all of his negatives. He slept on a single-size cot, showered in a shared bathroom and, when he was asked why he spent years ripping up checks from magazines like Details (which he helped Annie Flanders launch in 1982), said:
“Money’s the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive.”
His uniform was utterly utilitarian: a blue French worker’s jacket, khaki pants and black sneakers.Although he sometimes photographed upward of 20 gala events a week, he never sat down at any of them for dinner and would wave away people who walked up to him to inquire whether he would at least like a glass of water.”
He was recently hospitalised after having a stroke. He passed away on Saturday in New York City, age 87.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty.
Cunningham has passed leaving a legacy as one of the most iconic and adored people in the fashion industry. He will be deeply missed. RIP.
Source: New York Times.
Photo: Cindy Ord / Getty.
