He said, she said check out Bill!

What is one way to perk up your spirits during an afternoon class in which you're doing endless research?? A text message from a friend asking you to go on a movie date! AND not just any ol’ movie, but the premier of the documentary on Bill Cunningham, an acclaimed New York fashion photographer.

How did the buzz about the movie land on her lap and get hot potatoe’d over to me? Well over dinner we realized it really one of those I heard from a friend of a friend stories. After the tale of ‘he told that guy, who told her’ ended, we realized that everyone who heard about the movie (and there was a surprising amount), was in some way involved in the fashion industry. It doesn’t come as much as a surprise as the documentary is on a fashion photographer and was advertised on several fashion columns and blogs, in addition to newspapers and magazines like the Georgia Straight and Fashion Ezine.

As dinner progressed we questioned whether or not it would have been worthwhile for the documentary to be advertised in other news sections besides fashion. Will someone who is reading the technology column be interested in a documentary about a fashion photographer? Does the firm in charge of marketing this film determine this or have we as a society dictated the boundaries of who will be interested in what? On my last sushi roll I realized I have more questions than answers. I started to question whether or not we stereotype, or if the marketing firms decide it’s really not their job to change societal values, but rather to cash in on them. Hmmm... something to investigate.

Regardless of how the information about the film came to me, I am overly glad that I took the opportunity to attend the premier. It was an excellent documentary about Bill Cunningham, who you quickly come to learn is one of the most grounded men working in the fashion industry. And although I had to stay up until 3:00am trying to finish my assignment, it was definitely well worth it. If you haven’t done so already, please do see Bill Cunningham New York!