“Bill Cunninghan… the man I watched at every fashion week I attended. We wore the same worker jacket. His jacket was always immaculate — mine worn and frayed. As a photographer Bill anticipated every step, on every catwalk, or street pavement, with his sharp focused editorial eye. It was sharper than most credited editors. His sense of enjoyment, wit, and pure excitement in the theatre of fashion and style made his photographs an inspiration.
While I was working at British Vogue in the mid 70’s, long before digital cameras, camera phones, and selfies, I remember receiving Bill’s photographs as contacts after one fashion week. It was the first time I had seen half frame 35mm contacts, over 72 photographs per sheet. No more than three shots per look, often just one, every shot was sharp with perfect exposure.
Bill nailed the models’ strides perfectly, capturing the Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel, Chloe (by Lagerfeld), and Givenchy looks perfectly. I blew up the contact sheet to fill a double page report.
My friend Oliviero Toscani knew Bill well, and told me the whole report was shot on a wind-up Bell + Howell camera that fitted into Bill’s worker jacket pocket. God bless a wonderful human being and the memories he has stored in a thousand shoeboxes.” Terry Jones, i-D Founder
“Bill Cunningham always called me/ all of us? ‘child.’ With his twinkling hello and the way he smiled and seemed to enjoy every minute of every single day he should be a lesson to us all. Bill cheered up the greyest day and the most pretentious of fashion weeks. A truly inspirational, wonderful man! He will be much missed… x” Tricia Jones, i-D Original Mum