Bill Cunningham Facades

Unless you’re a regular reader of The New York Times or part of the city’s high society or fashion elite, it’s possible – even probable – that you’ve never heard of Bill Cunningham.

Bill has been described as a “pixie on a bicycle,” riding around the streets of New York in his fail-safe uniform of khakis and blue jacket in search of fabulously dressed women and men to photograph for his weekly column On the Street.

At 85, he is an unlikely sex symbol. But I have a crush on Bill Cunningham, not unlike the other dozen or so ladies-of-a-certain-age who attended the docent-led tour of Facades at the New York Historical Society. They swapped Billspotting stories, one woman rueing she wasn’t dressed smartly enough for her recent “clothes” encounter.

Not a surprising response, apparently. Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, insists that every woman in New York dresses for Bill.

Modest, discreet, curious, unequivocal, impassioned, simple, gentlemanly, and with a deep knowledge of fashion history, Bill is an enigma in a time (and city) that habitually lays itself bare. He wants what he wants – to photograph street fashion – and gets it with little fuss or fanfare on his part. However, everybody else is happy to gush on his behalf.

The Facades exhibition, a re-mounting of the 1977 show of the same name, is a fusion of three things I live for: photography, vintage clothing, and architectural history.

Between 1968 and 1976, “Bicycle Bill”  scoured New York’s thrift stores and flea markets for vintage clothing, compiling over 500 period outfits including underclothes, shoes, hats and accessories.

[pullquote]The earliest find was a 1770’s mob cap ($6) which the shop thought was a doily, a 1780 calash bonnet ($18), a late Napoleon I dress and shawl ($100) that came to the shop as a protective wrapping around a porcelain vase.[/pullquote]

Fashion in hand, he researched buildings around the city, carefully matching construction dates with the corresponding couture of the period, paying particular attention to complementary design details.

Editta Sherman, Bill’s friend, neighbour, and muse 17 years his senior, known as the “Duchess of Carnegie Hall,” became his model and fellow adventurer. Amongst other things, she was a mother of five and a celebrity photographer in her own right.

For eight years they worked weekends to document over 1,800 locations,  including Egyptian temples and Russian cathedrals, Beaux-Arts mansions, Gothic Revival churches, Art Deco office buildings and high-Victorian apartments. This required shooting four to five different locations every weekend for more than four hundred weeks.

While Bill gets credit for the photographs, Editta was every bit the star and equal. Her striking classical look, hourglass figure, theatrical personality, focus and knowledge of photography elevated the project from mundane fashion spread to enduring, historically- and culturally-significant record.  She is far more subject than object.

Like so much of what Bill does, the Facades project was never about the money. [pullquote]“Never take money doing what you love, that way no one can tell you what to do.” [/pullquote]

The joy of having an empathetic partner-in-crime, the treasure hunting, the exploration, the poetic cleverness, and mostly the fun of their eight-year odyssey can hardly be contained in a few sentences. What a blessing to be such friends and exercise that friendship so absolutely on a regular basis. They are, I think, what George Bernard Shaw had in mind:

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Editta Sherman passed away in 2013 at the age of 101. Bill may have been an introvert in some regards, but he was never alone. He always had Editta.

******

The exhibit:

Bill Cunningham Facades, New York Historical Society until June 14th, 2014

The book:

Bill Cunningham Facades (1978),  Penguin Books/Fashion Institute of Technology, NY

I found a first edition of the book being sold by the estate of the Sherman family. I feel grateful to own a copy, which provides insight into Bill and Editta’s adventures. I would dearly like to talk to Ms. Sherman’s children one day. Goes without I’d saying I’d love to follow Bill around for a day.

The coat:

A few days after my return from New York I happened upon a tiny garage sale on a gravel road not far from my house. There, next to a sparkly 80’s jacket, hung a gorgeous full-length black velvet coat with leg-of-mutton sleeves, probably Edwardian. The label read Maritime Furriers Ltd., Halifax and it became mine for $50.

I immediately kitted up and headed to the churchyard to capture the evening light. Unusually, I am in front of the camera and so, here, I am barking orders at saintly Husband (not a photographer) who is charged with engaging the shutter.

Bill and Editta: This pic’s for you. xo