Bill Cunningham: “All I see are the clothes”

Bill Cunningham moved to New York City in 1948 seeking a career in fashion, and found his niche as a photographer. Employing his camera as a notebook, he became one of the most influential authorities of style and society of his time. With the scrutiny of an anthropologist in the field, he lets the streets “speak” to him as he gathers visual data on how fashions mirror the times. He finds it on sidewalks, in elite philanthropic soirées, and in designers’ shows. Those with aspirations to celebrity or society routinely attempt to catch Cunningham’s roving eye, but the unpretentious photographer has never consciously sought arbiter status. “All I see are the clothes,” he has plainly said. “He who seeks beauty will find it.”