Bill Cunningham New York is about a soul full of mystery, and is an eyeful of heaven for fashionistas. Cunningham is a Manhattan institution, a charming, enigmatic, 82-year-old photographer who covers street, catwalk and society fashion for The New York Times. He trawls the city on his bike, mixing with the glitterati and the hipsters, giving both equal space if their costumes tickle him enough.
Anna Wintour, of Vogue, says, “We all dress for Bill”, and oddly she appears to get younger as Cunningham ages in the film. He says fashion is not frivolity, but “armour to survive”. But there’s a secret history to the man: he was a milliner before being drafted into the army, and he lives a monk’s life in one room filled with filing cabinets of negatives in Carnegie Hall. The revelations are moving; the fashion is funky. 12A (85mins)