The Cunning of Bill

As the only man Anna Wintour got dressed up for, most would be forgiven for any swift presumptions of money men or formidable guardians of media. How much richer and more gratifying then, that the man in question lived without a kitchen or bathroom to call his own and wore the same blue workman's smock to capture the street fashions of New York.

For over three decades Cunningham biked around Manhattan, photographing people and the passing everyday but it was the clothing that he fixated on and which he dedicated his career to.
Hired as a writer for Women's Wear Daily in 1963, his alliances with the city's broadsheets sharpened upon documenting the fashion dialogue the streets had to offer. The eloquence of a wool top coat settled on the shoulders of a Park Avenue WASP, was heard with the same clarity as the slang of jelly sandals or beaded fringing.

When the Times offered him unprecedented column inches with the style sections 'On the Street' and 'Evening Hours' in the early 90s, Cunningham's powers of observation became seemingly boundless and afforded the city it's very own school yearbook. Prada trainers, streaked hair and skinny jeans surpassed stone-washed denim, fun fur and Celeste blue eyeshadow.

But to the envy of any subjected to the playground scrutiny or ridicule of cool kids, these graduates were all celebrated, with Cunningham having pointed out before that he made no attempts to photograph any so-called faux pas or celebrities 'in their borrowed clothes'. With the studied cynicism that's encountered at fashion's every turn, his pictures remain inimitable due to his infinite curiosity, his simple devotion.

Gay Talese, American author and writer for The New Yorker cited that 'most journalists are restless voyeurs who see the warts on the world, the imperfections in people and places'. Cunningham made it his life's work to find the beautiful, the extraordinary.


William John Cunningham, 13 March 1929 - 25 June 2016