We watched Bill Cunningham New York today.
Here’s his work on the NYT website.
He comes across as a real sweet old man, and a marvellous talent. His mind is a veritable treasury of all New York’s fashion for the last… It’s difficult to say, really. He makes references to things going back to the beginnings of the 1900’s.
I love how Bill looks at modern fashion pieces and if he sees that they were taken from elsewhere, he puts the two pieces— the original and the copy/inspiration— side by side for comparison. That probably puts the fear of god in fashion designers all over NYC.
It’s not always a bad thing to copy, and the film doesn’t show us Bill’s thoughts on the matter. It would have been nice to know, though.
Then we watched Herb & Dorothy.
I don’t like the implication of this film. That is, there’s some sort of objective standard by which we can tell what good art is. Herb and Dorothy, the film says, have that “aesthetic eye”. They home in on good art like heat-seeking missiles on a delicious warm body. Of course I disagree that such a thing as “good” art necessarily exists. How can it when half the measure of a good art piece is how the viewer responds to it?
Still, it’s a film that gives me hope that I can still be a collector even though I’ve just received maybe the 400th rejection letter for a civil service job. I should start collecting art too. Or just buy anything that I like. Maybe budget $5 per month for it. (HAHA.) Sadly, I don’t have the luxury of my own place. Even bringing a potted plant home meets with so many loud objections. This house is so oppressive.
Anyway, as the film began, I wondered, if Herb and Dorothy visit so many art events in New York, surely Bill must have been to some of the same ones. And sure enough, he appears in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot.
Fun films.
