Bill Cunningham: Remembering the Iconic Fashion Photographer

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Photographer Bill Cunningham is seen outside Skylight Clarkson Sq during New York Fashion Week: Men's S/S 2016 in New York City on July 15, 2015.
Photographer Bill Cunningham is seen outside Skylight Clarkson Sq during New York Fashion Week: Men's S/S 2016 in New York City on July 15, 2015.Noam Galai—Getty Images
By Olivier Laurent

Bill Cunningham, the legendary fashion photographer for the New York Times, has died, after being hospitalized earlier in the week following a stroke. He was 87.

A regular at all of New York’s fashion shows, Cunningham always wore the same “uniform”—a blue jacket and khaki pants—and photographed both the famous and the unknown.

“I realized that you didn’t know anything unless you photographed the shows and the street, to see how people interpreted what designers hoped they would buy,” Cunningham once wrote. “I realized that the street was the missing ingredient.”

His work, which spans more than 40 years, forms an anthropological study of our society’s fashion—one that will be remembered for years to come.

Here is a gallery of Cunningham at work.

Photographer Bill Cunningham attends the 8th Annual Museum Of Modern Art Film Benefit honoring Cate Blanchett at Museum of Modern Art in New York City on November 17, 2015.
Photographer Bill Cunningham attends the 8th Annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit honoring Cate Blanchett at Museum of Modern Art in New York City on Nov. 17, 2015.Noam Galai—WireImage
Anna Wintour, Bill Cunningham and Wintour's daughter Bee Shaffer during New York Fashion Week, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City on Feb. 18, 2016.
Anna Wintour, Bill Cunningham and Wintour's daughter Bee Shaffer during New York Fashion Week, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City on Feb. 18, 2016.Dina Litovsky—Redux
Bill Cunningham, Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Seinfeld attend the Narciso Rodriguez fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at SIR Stage37 in New York City on February 17, 2015.
Bill Cunningham, Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Seinfeld attend the Narciso Rodriguez fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at SIR Stage37 in New York City on Feb. 17, 2015. Ben Gabbe—Getty Images
Rihanna, Bill Cunningham, Stella McCartney Costume Institute Gala Benefit celebrating Charles James: Beyond Fashion - Dinner, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5, 2014.
Rihanna, Bill Cunningham, and Stella McCartney at the Costume Institute Gala Benefit celebrating Charles James: Beyond Fashion - Dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5, 2014.David X Prutting—BFA/REX/Shutterstock
Designer Mary McFadden and New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham attend the Casita Maria Fiesta 2015 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City on October 13, 2015.
Designer Mary McFadden and New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham attend the Casita Maria Fiesta 2015 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City on Oct. 13, 2015.Laura Cavanaugh—Getty Images
Director Martin Scorsese and actress Cate Blanchett pose for photographer Bill Cunningham at the Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit's Tribute to Cate Blanchett at MoMA in New York City on Nov. 17, 2015.
Director Martin Scorsese and actress Cate Blanchett pose for photographer Bill Cunningham at the Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit's Tribute to Cate Blanchett at MoMA in New York City on Nov. 17, 2015.Rebecca Smeyne—Getty Images
American fashion photographer, Bill Cunningham and Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Fern Mallis, at the CFDA Awards, in 1994.
American fashion photographer Bill Cunningham and Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Fern Mallis, at the CFDA Awards, in 1994. Rose Hartman—Getty Images

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