“Fashion is as vital and as interesting today as ever. I know what people with a more formal attitude mean when they say they’re horrified by what they see on the street. But fashion is doing its job. It’s mirroring exactly our times.”
– Bill Cunningham
Bill Cunningham (March 13, 1929 – June 25, 2016) made it look easy. The photographer’s candid pictures populated two long-running (1978 – 2016) New York Times features: On the Street, a look at New York street style; and Evening Hours, a portraits of society figures at New York philanthropic fund-raisers. And from 1982 to 1990, Cunningham worked for Details magazine.
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “Wedding Fantasies”
Founded by Annie Flanders (10 June 1939 – 10 March 2022) Details began as an independent downtown fashion and life-style magazine that quickly expanded nationally, leading to its sale to Condé Nast in 1990. Cunningham was part of the original Details team that started with the first issue in October 1982, and eventually came to dominate issues in the late 1980s with one-hundred-plus page spreads covering fashion shows in New York, London and Paris. The entire history of fashion in the 1980s is contained within the pages of Details. The magazines also document Cunningham’s rise to artistic maturity prior to his move to The New York Times as a full-time staff member in 1994.
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 5, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “Paris Collections”
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 5, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “Paris Collections” – Paris streets style
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 6, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “The New York Collections”
Triple Threat in DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 6, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “The New York Collections”
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 7, 1982, Bill Cunningham’s “Ahead of the Game”
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 2 No. 1, 1983, Bill Cunningham’s “Fall Collections- New York” and “Plus Paris”
Details Magazine, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1985:09 (September), Bill Cunningham
Details Magazine, Vol. 4 No. 8, 1986:03 (March), Bill Cunningham
London style in Details Magazine, Vol. 4 No. 8, 1986:03 (March), Bill Cunningham
Counter card for the September issue of DETAILS Magazine, 1986.
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 4, 1987:10 (October), Bill Cunningham’s 16-Page Retour a la Couture
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 4, 1987:10 (October), Bill Cunningham’s 16-Page Retour a la Couture
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 8 No. 3, 1989:09 (September), Bill Cunningham’s 101-Page Fall Fashion Special
DETAILS Magazine, Vol. 8 No. 3, 1989:09 (September), Bill Cunningham’s 101-Page Fall Fashion Special
Via Gallery98 which has a fantastic archive of Bill Cunningham ephemera to buy.
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