Bill Cunningham, ‘New York Times’ Fashion Photographer, Dies at 87

Bill Cunningham, iconic fashion photographer known for capturing eclectic street style, died on Saturday at 87.

He died while recovering from a stroke.

For nearly 40 years, Cunningham photographed New York City’s street style capturing what people wore. He focused on fashion that caught his eye. He was a recognizable figure, wearing his blue workman’s jacket and riding around on his bicycle, photographing the styles of the city.

Cunningham was a trailblazer in street photography, establishing himself as an “unlikely cultural anthropologist.” One of Cunningham’s trademarks was that he did not limit himself to photographing one specific kind of person and he did not limit himself to photographing the same types of events. Such was his influence that in 2009, he was declared a living landmark.

In the 2010 documentary, Bill Cunningham New York, Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, praised his ability to “see something on the street or on the runway, that completely missed all of us. And in six months’ time, that will be a trend!” Winter is also on record as saying, “We all dress for Bill,” indicating that Cunningham’s photographic eye was held in high regard by the fashion community.

William John Cunningham Jr. was born in Boston in 1929 to an Irish-Catholic family. He enjoyed fashion as a child. He attended Harvard on a scholarship, but he dropped out in 1948. He moved to New York after serving in the Army; he chose to make hats rather than work in his uncle’s advertising agency. He wrote fashion pieces for the Chicago Tribune. Around 1967, Cunningham began taking pictures of people on the street. In 1978, he began publishing a regular series of photographs in the New York Times.

His death was mourned by members of the fashion community, among others. Executive Editor of the New York Times, Dean Baquet, spoke about his longtime colleague Bill Cunningham.

“He loved what he did. He was just a tremendously bright, admiring figure,” following up with a tweet that stated, “To see a Bill Cunningham street spread was to see all of New York.”