Bill Cunningham New York

This documentary was transfixing. To be completely honest I’d never heard of Bill Cunningham before in my life, but his name and his story are going to stick with me for years to come. The reasons I liked this documentary are varied. First of all, the Bill’s passion – street photography – was already a very visually appealing subject to work with and it translated brilliantly onto the video screen. That our documentaries are also going to be based on fashion is a blessing, because the subject itself is already one of beauty and colour, just waiting to be shot.

I also really loved this particular angle on fashion…street photography. “The best fashion show is definitely on the street. Always has been, always will be.” I’m attracted to this idea of the street being a runway, or THE runway and would love to work this idea of the ‘ordinary man’ being the subject into my documentary. I identify with this notion of challenging the traditionally ‘high end’ or ‘exclusive’ view of fashion and examining the beauty that is created when it is put in the creative hands of the everyday man.

One thing I think works so well in this documentary is its sense of character. This sense of character comes from two different things, I think, one of which is the city of New York, and the other being Bill Cunningham himself. New York’s personality is felt through a number of means, firstly experienced through the big band jazz music that accompanies the opening scene. It is also felt through the inclusion of shots of New York taken at various times of Cunninghams’s life, spanning from the 1920’s to the present, as well as featuring landmark buildings as major parts of the storyline – for example Carnegie Hall, which was the photographer’s home for many years. The remix of old and new footage also lends to a dynamically interesting rhythm.

Cunningham himself makes for an amazing subject, and it is his eccentricity and idiosyncrasies that really draws the viewer in. The focus on his particularly unique personality traits – his undying passion for his photography, his disregard for relationships and food, his hate for money and belief in financial liberty – are what give this documentary its character. I think that featuring a human subject, one that viewers can identify with or feel for, is a very important element of a documentary, because that is what makes the viewers connect with what would otherwise feel like static, disconnected information.

What I think I love the most about this documentary though, was the inspiration I drew from it. I found that I sat down with a notebook and pen, and by then end of it had pages and pages of notes and quotes I’d scribbled down in my haste to not miss the next shot. Bill Cunningham was an amazingly wise old man, one who I cannot help but admire for his passion and dedication to his art. I can also completely identify with his disregard for money and desire to stay unbound by financial ties. “You see if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do kid.”

I will end this post with a handful of my favorite quotes from the legend that is Bill Cunningham:

·       “Money is the cheapest thing. Liberty, freedom is the most expensive.”

·      “I eat with my eyes.”

·      “I don’t work. I only know how to have fun every day.”

·      “The wider world that perceives fashion as a …frivolity that should be done away with in the face of social upheavals and problems that are enormous…well the point is in fact that fashion…it’s the armour to survive the reality of everyday life. “

Here are some photos of the notes I couldn't help but scribble down as I was watching the documentary: