Bill Cunningham once said,
“Fashion is as vital and as interesting today as ever. I know what people with a more formal attitude mean when they say they're horrified by what they see on the street. But fashion is doing its job. It's mirroring exactly our times.”
His words reflect and understanding of the changes of the times, a sensitivity to the youth and their struggles, and an open democratic vision of the fashion world. Bill Cunningham was a fashion photographer known not for his editorial work, but his candid images of the streets of New York. Born in 1929, Cunningham documented many eras of the 20th and 21st century, with stills of meetings with the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Karl Lagerfeld and Divine. He was less interested by the cloths that had been designed and made for the run way, but captivated by the looks that young people had chosen for themselves. Almost as if he was a sociologist, with his only clues being the everyday fashions of young people – he felt one could learn so much about the times and society through what people wore. This week he would have turned 90 years old, so we would like to pay our respects to this artist who was truly a voice for the young and fashionable.