Saturday, June 21, 2008

Street Spirit

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With all the attention given to The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, et al, it's easy to forget the granddaddy of all street fashion photographers, Bill Cunningham, of The New York Times. Every Sunday in the style section he features a bunch of photographs that illustrate a particular theme or trend, and on nytimes.com he has a bunch of On The Street audio slideshows, like this one from when it was really hot out a couple weeks ago, or this one about the arrival of Spring in the city, or this weekend's entry on sagging and belts. There's also this audio slideshow about Bill Cunningham by the Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn.

Cunningham has a more spontaneous approach than his younger counterparts, which puts fashion in more of a real-life context—it reminds you that these people are walking around looking great and/or interesting while doing the everyday stuff they do.

I remember my old boss Stephen Gan saying that Bill Cunningham's apartment is completely filled to the brim with photographs, and that he actually sleeps on top of his filing cabinets because there's not enough room for a bed. I don't know if that's true but I like to think so.

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