Bill Cunningham ontmoeten

Oké, that exciting that I briefly mentioned yesterday ? That was a meeting with Bill Cunningham at The New York Times, and I'm going to tell you all about it. Oh be warned, this is going to be a ridiculously long story but take my word for itit's worth it.: The whole meeting with Bill came about thanks to his right-hand man John Kurdewan. I've already told you about John.

here , and when this NY trip came up, I sent him an email. Mainly just to have coffee together, so I could personally thank him for, the signed newspaper . And I asked him if it might be possible to take a look at their editorial office, because not only their office but the whole building of The New York Times I find fascinatingly interesting. That newspaper is such an insane institution and even though I don't read it necessarily daily (or weekly), the little bit of journalistic blood that I have still runs faster.. John responded quite quickly that of course that was possible: ‘anything for you.” At that moment, I was bouncing through life because man, the New York Times! In 2011, a documentary was made about the newspaper; Page One: Inside The New York Times,.

which I saw at IDFA, and even though that doc wasn't really the best and most enlightening, what became clear was that there is so much history and influence – I really wanted to see that up close. And so it happened. Yesterday morning at 10:30.

I walked with trembling knees through the pouring rain 10 blocks from my hotel to the newspaper. The gigantic building towers high above all its neighbors and in the immense lobby house the front desks of dozens of companies that are in the same skyscraper. John comes down and after a big American hug, he takes me to his workplace. It was still totally deserted there because, as he tells me, most people come in between 12:00 and 15:00 , and then stay until midnight. But not him and Bill, they just start in the morning and just as John was showing me his spot, Bill arrived. and 15:00 John had already told me that Bill can sometimes be a bit distant because he doesn't like being in the spotlight at all. “Just act like you're here for me, and he'll warm up.” And that was true, “ and 15:00 hi Bill, I’m John’s friend” I said, and then John showed the page where I was on and then Bill remembered. “Oh you’re the girl we met during fashion week!” And from there he was cheerful and genuinely sweet, friendly and nice.

At this point, I was already so totally starstruck and impressed that a lot went over my head. We chatted a bit about the cold back then, the rain now, how fun fashion week is and“Habout the Met Ball.

, because they were there recently. Together with John, I went through the raw material that was shot that evening and then it became even clearer why Bill is so praised and mentioned. To be honest, photographically, he's not the best photographer, he always says that himself, but he can look like the best., Every morning he goes out onto the streets of New York and then he looks. Looks and photographs, and creates pages with trends.

that according to Anna Wintour even slip past the eyes of American Vogue. And so those Met photos were too. We usually see the polished red carpet photos, where stars are perfectly posed pouting and smizing. But Bill goes past that moment and always seeks out the human, so you see Kim Kardashian with her eyes closed, Candice Swanepoel with a slightly too shiny forehead, Anna Wintour who is just saying something and thus has her mouth open, in short: all not-perfect poses that make the photos and especially the people in them suddenly come to life, get a face of their own instead of the image that has been smeared on them by makeup artists. And the reason he can take those photos, that he can get so intimate and close, is because everyone knows Bill so everyone smiles at his camera and becomes cheerful from his presence. Moreover, it doesn't matter to him whether someone looks good; “it’s always and only about the fashion.” Bill stands next to us and with almost every photo of any dress he knows something to tell. Not about the stars by the way, he doesn't know them. For example, during that evening he took one photo of Miley Cyrus where Miley said just one?“ and he said”

just kid keep walking.” Later he asked John: “: “Jwho was that? Was that Madonna?” Or about Katy Perry he said, “: “Yis that one of those Kardashian kind of people?” He is totally unaware of the greats who are smiling at him, who want to be photographed by him, who want to be in a photo with him,“Wlike Linda Evangelista”Iand of course his close friend Anna Wintour., We spent at least a small hour scrolling through his work, John then showed me the entire office. Along the news room, the fact-checkers, and even the executive floor with the boardroom and the room of “the owner of The New York Times.” But then we're not done yet. Because after the editorial office, John asks if I want to see “the archives.” For those who don't know what that is, those are Bill's archives. They are at his home, and in those archives is every photo he has ever, but really ever taken. Every negative from every fashion week, On The Street, event, everything. They are rows and rows of filing cabinets and cardboard boxes labeled with things like “Paris Fashion Week 1973,” or “Milan Fashion Week 1965.” The history that this man possesses is unimaginable.

And I was going to see it. In real life. In his house. Together with John, I got into the taxi towards Central Park, where Bill lives. A gigantic apartment complex with the view over the park. Don't think that Bill has a lot of money by the way, far from it. He lived 60 years above Carnegie Hall, where there were 133 small rent-controlled studios for all kinds of artists and performers,“

he tells about it.

. When those spaces were converted into classrooms in 2010, he had to leave, and together with the last 5 remaining residents, he was moved to another rent-controlled apartment, where I was going., With the elevator, we zoomed to the top floor where the door opens to his tiny apartment, which is indeed completely filled with filing cabinets. Somewhere in between is a small mattress where he sleeps, the second room is also full of cabinets, the kitchen is completely unused (“Bill doesn’t know how to use the stove and he never, ever, cooks”) and the only place where there are no boxes is the bathroom. There is also no closet by the way, on such a silly dry-cleaning hanger hangs his iconic blue jacket, there are some blue sweaters and that’s it.. I stand there looking around while John is fiddling with the broken air conditioning and I just can't believe this is happening. That I am really standing there, in the house where Bill Cunningham goes to sleep every night and wakes up every morning. Throughout the whole morning, John talked endlessly about Bill, his work, their relationship, about everything. The intense friendship between the two is so heartwarming beautiful, John goes everywhere with Bill because he is of course getting very old, is almost deaf and overestimates his own physical abilities all the time. John is there when he is tired, when he forgets to eat again, to carry his cameras and to make sure that not everyone constantly bothers him – which happens all the time, because really everyone is a fan of Bill. And Bill calls John every morning to check if he has gotten up on time, on weekends John calls Bill to see if everything is okay, and so they keep an eye on each other and make sure the other is doing well.

Whoever has managed to hold on until here, my thanks are great. I can tell you that this was really, REALLY the highlight of my life. I've never experienced something so special and was so close to someone I admire so much. So be warned, I will brag about this very often and a lot, until you really get dead tired of me. But as John says: “anything for Bill.”.

Okay, that exciting thing I briefly mentioned yesterday? That was a meeting with Bill Cunningham at The New York Times, and I'm going to tell you all about it.

Okay, that exciting thing I briefly mentioned yesterday? That was a meeting with Bill Cunningham at The New York Times, and I'm going to tell you all about it. Oh be warned...“