End of an era – Legendary photographer Bill Cunningham has died

The New York Times fashion photographer passed away aged 87.

Renowned street-style photographer Bill Cunningham has died after being hospitalised from a stroke last week. Sunday's edition of The Times was the first in many decades not to have any photographs by Bill Cunningham. Jacob Bernstein of The Times writes:

"In his nearly 40 years working for The Times, Mr. Cunningham operated both as a dedicated chronicler of fashion and as an unlikely cultural anthropologist, one who used the changing dress habits of the people he photographed to chart the broader shift away from formality and toward something more diffuse and individualistic."

Bill photographed doing what he does best at the Xuly Bet Fall 2016 fashion show during New York Fashion week in February. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., The Times’s publisher and chairman remembered Bill fondly:

“His company was sought after by the fashion world’s rich and powerful, yet he remained one of the kindest, most gentle and humble people I have ever met. “We have lost a legend, and I am personally heartbroken to have lost a friend.”

In 2010, he was the subject of a documentary, 'Bill Cunningham New York,' which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art. Bill was filmed cycling through the city and in his spartan studio in the Carnegie Hall building. Bill referred to his work as not a job but a joy.

"It’s not work, it’s pleasure. That’s why I feel so guilty. Everybody else does work — I have too much fun.”

Watch the trailer for'Bill Cunningham New York,' below:

Images via Getty.