He’s 80 years old. He rides a beat-up bicycle through Manhattan traffic. And he’s one of the most important fashion photographers in the world.
My colleague Rob Kelly listed this one as #4 in his lineup of 19 Great Documentaries About Photographers (Ranked).
Trailer for “Bill Cunningham: New York”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- He lives in a tiny Carnegie Hall studio with no kitchen, packed floor to ceiling with filing cabinets of millions of photos documenting decades of New York fashion.
- At 80 years old, Bill is still biking all over Manhattan daily. He weaves through traffic and steps into the street mid-shot while cars are coming.
Watch “Bill Cunningham: New York”
You can watch “Bill Cunningham: New York” on Prime Video and Apple TV.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 95/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 92/100 (Users); 99/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Richard Press directs this 84-minute documentary with a light touch. Press is also known for directing some episodes of Abstract: The Art of Design.
Release Date: March 16, 2011
Other Unique Stuff
- Bill organizes photos obsessively by subject (like coats, hats, or color patterns), creating a kind of pre-digital “search engine” for fashion trends decades before Instagram or Pinterest existed.
- Even though he photographed New York’s wealthiest elites for years, he reportedly never owned a car, never learned to drive, and relied entirely on his bicycle—keeping him physically and philosophically grounded in the same streets he documented.
- He famously turned down money, gifts, and even fancy dinners because he believed accepting them would compromise his integrity as a photographer.
Wrap Up:
“Bill Cunningham: New York” is about purpose and fashion. It’s what happens when someone loves their work so much that everything else becomes irrelevant.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc