Veteran fashion photographer, Bill Cunningham, has died aged 87. Cunningham, who worked for the New York Times, was famous for his candid photography, taking unexpected pictures of everyday people, socialites and fashion figures. He focused heavily on people and the passing scene in the streets of Manhattan every day; focusing on an authentic use of clothes to express personal style.
Cunningham worked with a great many of fashion’s key figures, including Azzedine Alaïa and Jean Paul Gaultier. Oscar de la Renta commented: “More than anyone else in the city, he has the whole visual history of the last 40 or 50 years of New York. It’s the total scope of fashion in the life of New York”.
Despite his connection to fashion’s elite, Cunningham lived a modest life. In an obituary, The New York Times reported that he ate in the same deli most days, the same breakfast of coffee and sausage, egg and cheese. When asked why he kept tearing up cheques he was given, Cunningham replied “Money’s the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive”.
#Peace.Love.BillCunningham
