‘Bill Cunningham New York’: Watch It!

Written By Shannon Washington

above: Bill Cunningham photographing Vogue editor Anna Wintour

While aspiring street style photographers have Scott Schulman, Yvan Rodic, and Tommy Ton to look up to, any of these shooters with their weight in film will tell you that it all started with Bill Cunningham. Fashionable New Yorkers have made his Sunday Styles “On The Street” and “Evening Hours” pages a first stop when looking through the New York Times over brunch, and now his fans will have an intimate look at the notoriously private Schwinn-riding photographer. Director Richard Press and the New York Times are set to debut the 89-minute documentary in March, with openings in New York and Los Angeles to start, a huge feat considering Bill didn’t want to do it in the first place: “It started in 2000,” said Richard Press, who directed the film. Philip Gefter, to whom Mr. Press is married, produced it. “Philip and I approached Bill. He just pooh-poohed the idea. He couldn’t entertain it. He said, ‘Why me? There’s no subject here.’”

Get familiar with Bill with the trailer for the film here.

For more on Bill, check out this New Yorker feature.

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