Fitting the ‘Bill’

I must say I thought The New York Times’ 20 page tribute to Bill Cunningham, was very well done. It had the right mix of essays, articles, columns, quotes, and illustrations, not to mention a section written by the man himself, “Bill On Bill”. Though I didn’t think I was going to discover anything about him that I didn’t already know- after all, I have known him for about 30 years, and interviewed him last December for our ‘Master of Fashion Video Series’, which touched on many of the same things The New York Times focused on- I did learn that he enrolled at Harvard for a semester (not too surprising, since he is a very bright, learned man).

I think the part I found most surprising, was Anna Wintour’s honest admission (“The Picture Subjects Talk Back”) that “we all dress for Bill”, and that she wonders “if Bill will like this.” I guess it proves even fashion goddesses are not always sure of themselves, and suffer from bouts of insecurity sometimes.

Marilyn Kirschner

I am a long time fashion editor with 40+ years of experience. As senior market of Harper's Bazaar for 21 years I met and worked with every major fashion designer in the world and covered all of the collections in Paris, London, Milan and New York. I was responsible for overall content, finding and pulling in the best clothes out there, and for formulating ideas and stories.