Bill Cunningham, a Real fashion artist

Bill Cunningham is taking picture on the street<from Internetl>

This is a documentary about a common but unique fashion journalist, Bill Cunningham, who has been worked for New York Times Style Section for over half a century.

He goes out for taking pictures every day in a blue uniform coat with his small camera and old bicycle. He believes in the real fashion show is on the street. He doesn’t like anything fancy, but like women’s dressing. He enjoys each fashion week but not for the celebrities with free clothes. He is taking street snaps for living , but he treats money as the cheapest thing.

Bill is just this kind of enjoyable person, he never care what kind of people thought about him, the only thing he focus on is the these beautiful scenes he caught in his camera.

He has worked for so many years, some of his “models” were becoming the “big guy” in fashion industry. Such as Vogue’s editrix Anna Wintour, she even said:” We all get dressed for Bill.”

Even when he was invited to the Paris Fashion Week, people who knew him really treated him like “the most important person to the world”. They knew Bill’s talent and value.

Most of people would be shocked when we followed the camera entering into Bill’s home, which was actually a super tiny room with full of files closet. Why this huge and fancy industry can not bring money for him? I guess this kind of question would come out in every audience’s mind.

Then we start to know his deep inside, his family, his ideal, his sense of worth. That part of documentary has a little bit heavy and poignant, but just this part let us know the real Bill and how he became this he. We want to know.

Near the end, all the friends in New York Times celebrated the birthday for Bill, he was so happy that he might feel what he experienced were so worthy. He is doing his dream work always alone, but when he turns back, everyone is like him and need him. Hope he can keep going on his street game till the end.

Bill Cunningham is definitely a fashion journalist and an icon in the industry.

Fashion is a really complicated major, but sometimes it is pretty simple. You have to read, watch, feel and learn a lot from this huge world and no one can tell you what is exact fashion. But sometimes you can just live with your heart and passion to experience fashion, like Bill.

What he pursues is super simple and straight-forward, that’s fashion. What he achieved is his sensitive feeling of fashion, and he got it! There’s no free lunch in the world. Wealth and fame will make people lost and hard to follow his heart. Bill doesn’t care food, never do paparazzi, only cares clothes. That’s why he can feel fashion so deep and clearly. He is a real fashion icon.

Time can prove anything. Like a touchstone, when Bill’s pictures came out “6- month later, it would be a trend.” Anna Wintour said so.

What Bill record for fashion is not a simple section in a publication any more, but actually a fashion development history in reality. Especially he has a really good sense of fashion and a pretty stylish attitude, that is “don’t care others, just have fun with clothes on the street”.

By Luyang Wang