When Bill Cunningham Was the Milliner William J.

_{Initially published on Malt, Nov 2018
Translated and edited by Xin Chen, Dec 2022}

^{In 1948, a 19yo boy named William John
Cunningham Jr gave up a full scholarship to Harvard University and came to New
York to start his "fashion climbing".

The fashion lover, better known as Bill
Cunningham, passed away in 2016, by then he had photographed and
written columns, On the Street and Evening Hours,
for The New York Times for nearly 40 years. Spending all the years capturing stylish
passers-by on the street with his iconic blue workman’s jacket and khaki pants,
Bill Cunningham gained another name “Father of Street Photography”. Even
Anna Wintour once said, "We all get dressed for Bill."

With Bill Cunningham's passing, the documents
that filled his small apartment in Carnegie Hall have been revealed to the
public, including a memoir Fashion Climbing written by Bill
himself which was published by Penguin Press in September 2018. Besides, the
other two scrapbooks were published by The New York Times.}

^{The Milliner William J. 🎩}

^{Among the twelve chapters of Fashion
Climbing, Bill devoted six to his stories as the milliner William J.

In November 1948, Bill came to New York, after
negotiating with his family, he moved into his aunt and uncle’s house and
joined the advertising department of the luxury department store Bonwit
Teller. During his time working at Bonwit Teller, Bill
began making headdresses and hats in the maid's room at his aunt’s house, as
well as in Bonwit Teller's small stockroom, out of his ongoing interest in
millinery.}

^{His first headdresses and masks were well
accepted by many of Bonwit Teller’s customers, most of whom were society ladies
in New York, which made Bill’s first pot of money and gave him the confidence
to continue. However, at the same time, it also led to him
being kicked out by Bonwit Teller and caused a heated argument between his aunt
and uncle. Bill's uncle was particularly furious at him for making millinery.}

^{After leaving Bonwit Teller, Bill opened his
own hat shop under the name William J. — which surely wasn't easy either. Renting a space has become his first issue.
When Bill went to Hattie Carnegie to ask if he could rent the shop on the top
floor, the receptionist lied that Hattie was thrilled to see Bill and rent him
the room, then gave him the address of a hospital (Bellevue Hospital) to see
Hattie, which turned out to be a prank.

Fortunately, he finally started the business
by renting a small room at 62 East Fifty-Second Street in exchange for bringing
high-society customers to the building (because the landlord is a social
climber) and cleaning the entire house every day.}

^{In 1950, Bill was drafted into the US army
because of the Korean War and then served 4 years in France, which made him put
his millinery business on hold. He also mentioned in a 2010 documentary that he
lost an investment in the hat business as a result of serving in the military. But he never regretted his choice. It was
because of this experience that he later developed his own philosophy towards
work: "If you don't take their money, they can't ask you to do anything.
Freedom is the most luxurious."}

_{Ad of William J.'s hat design}

^{After the military, Bill returned to New York
in 1954 to continue the hat shop. As his ad described "The wildest! The
maddest! The most fabulous!!!", you will see a variety of imaginative and
daring ideas in William J.'s hat design: sharks, octopus, shells, fruits,
vegetables ...}

^{In his memoir, Bill once wrote about his
decision to start his own business: "The principal reason for me
to start my own business was to bring happiness to the world by making women an
inspiration to themselves and everyone who saw them. I wanted fashion to be
happy – but oh my God, what an idealist I was!”}

^{In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie
Kennedy had ever been his clients. According to Bill, the year 1956 to 1958 was
the golden period of his millinery business. But in 1962 he decided to
permanently close the William J. hat shop.

Part of the reason is the lack of funds.
Although the beautiful headdresses and hats from William J. were quite popular
among the ladies, the profits still barely could cover the cost. Bill always
needed to do other part-time jobs to support his life and shop. Another reason
is the change in fashion trends. By the 1960s, it was no longer popular for
women to wear hats.

Closing the hat shop, Bill started to work as
a photojournalist and began contributing to Women's Wear Daily and Chicago
Tribute. In this way, he transformed from a creator of fashion designs into
an observer of fashion and society.

Bill used more than 100 pages, half of the
book, to introduce the milliner William J.'s story. One can imagine his love
for this identity of milliner as well as the business. Bill wrote in the
memoir, "(closing the shop) is like a divorce."}

^{Fashion Climbing 🪜}

^{Besides the experience as a hatmaker,
Bill also shared about his love of fashion since childhood in Fashion
Climbing, as well as the strong opposition from his Catholic family that
came with this love.

He recalled that when he was a kid, he once
secretly wore his sister's dress and was beaten up and severely banned from
trying on any dress by his mothe. From a short interview in the 2010
documentary, we can also feel the great impact of his family and religious
pressure on a male born in the 1920s who loved fashion and beauty.

Along with the memoir, Bill's two early
scrapbooks also showed up in the public eye, which included newspapers and
periodicals he collected as inspiration for designing hats, and hat
advertisements in different media when he was running the shop. These millinery
designs echoed what Bill has been seeking all the time in fashion - daring and
creative!}

^{About This Article 📓}

^{This article intends to focus on Bill
Cunningham’s early experience as a milliner, therefore, it doesn’t introduce
much about his later work and life as a photojournalist, which is equally
important for understanding Bill Cunningham. While the latter part was
presented well in the 2010 documentary Bill Cunningham New York which
introduces Bill and his work attitude, work style, and philosophy of life
in great detail.

The original version of this article was
published on Malt in 2018. Rereading my past writing, I felt dissatisfied
and decided to modify it all over. For rewriting this piece, I bought a
second-hand Fashion Climbing and watched the documentary again
and gained more inspiration from both of the works.

The more I get to know Bill Cunningham, the
more I realize that what this fashion lover cares about most is always the
sheer pleasure of beauty.}

^{References:

Before He Was a Photographer, Bill Cunningham
Was a Hat Maker by Thessaly La Force (2018)

Bill Cunningham Left Behind a Secret Memoir by Alice
Newbold (2018)

Fashion Climbing by Bill
Cunningham (2018)

The New York Times street photographer’s early
visual diaries are exposed at the New-York Historical Society by Matthew
Schneier (2018)

Documentary Bill Cunningham New York
(2010)

All images are from the Internet.}