Quote of the day

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” ~ Chief Seattle

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Bill Cunningham New York: Humanity found in appreciating fashion

"We all get dressed for Bill"




“I don’t decide anything,” he says. “I let the street speak to me, and in order for the street to speak to you, you’ve got to stay out there and see what it is.” 

 "We all get dressed for Bill," says Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. The "Bill" in question is 80+ New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns "On the Street" and "Evening Hours." Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller-who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair. In turn, Bill Cunningham New York is a delicate, funny and often poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace. 
”Fashion is the armour to survive the reality of everyday life. I don’t think you could do away with it. It would be like doing away with civilization.” ~Bill Cunningham
 “A near Buddhist reflection on what it takes to fully engage Gotham, as well as an astute snapshot of its evermore avaricious soul… Tagging along with Cunningham is a bracing reminder of what’s been lost to the bottom line.”

No comments:

Post a Comment