We did a little window shopping beforehand, and found ourselves, at 9:00 a.m. this Saturday, walking up Fifth Avenue, passing Tiffany's, Bergdorf bound, LV's polka-dot display in our sites. The street was quiet, the atmosphere gray and humid.
Then, a steady clickety-clack cut through the air, a sound as magical as the tingling and jingling of the bells on Santa Claus's sled. I turned to look and saw Bill Cunningham pedaling his bicycle across Fifth Avenue.
His French worker's coat was the blue of photos, but even bluer than pictures can depict. He looked straight ahead (not at me :-( ) and I did the only thing logical: I tried to get my Mr. C's iPhone out of my bag while starting to chase the other Mr. C on his bike, down 57th, I think.
By the time I sorted out the iPhone camera (it's new to me) I had lost Bill C and one of New York's finest asked me if I needed his help. I explained that a wonderful fashion street photographer had just bicycled across and down the street but I couldn't catch up with him for a photo. The bemused officer turned me over to my daughter's care and went on with his day.
And all the while, Bill Cunningham calmly rode his cycle during the morning mist, appearing and vaporizing like a blue-winged apparation.
7 comments:
I saw him too right there at the corner of 5th and 57th and managed to get a quick but blurry picture. I think he must be used to his "fans' try to take his picture buy now. I was thrilled. it is a very blurry picture on pinterst under his name
It was rush hour he is very quick on that bike for a man in his 80s.
Will look for your photo!
I bumped into Victoria and David Beckham in Heathrow airport a few years back yet oddly I find your chance encounter with Bill Cunningham much more exciting. Like a whale surfacing next to your canoe.
A few years ago I saw him near Barneys when I was working on Madison. I HAD to tell him that I was a big fan of his work--I felt like such a geek!
I'm always so happy to see him!
I watched and loved the film about him last spring in a grimy little cinema in New York. The next morning I had a close encounter with Grace Coddington, which left me in no doubt that I was an unpolishable turd. I'd much much rather have seen Mr Cunningham vanishing into the mist.....
He knows where to hang to get the photos he needs. When I worked on 53rd Street (in my youth) the remarkable sightings were a daily surprise! Love New York!
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