This charming man

There are some in the fashion industry who are all about appearances, aching to be in the limelight - and then there are those unassuming creatures whose work and talent speaks for itself; rare creatures who hide from publicity or fanfare, and just like to get on with it.

Bill Cunningham is the latter, the man in New York who everyone wants to be photographed by. The elusive New York Times photographer is a "street style" pioneer who has chronicled the fashion people actually wear since the 1960s, with his weekly columns On The Street and Evening Hours. As he explains in a new documentary about his work and his life set to show at the New Zealand Film Festival: "The best fashion show is always on the street. Always has been and always will."

His work is important, described as a "manifestation of culture" by one fan, and a "portrait of New York itself" by the film's press release. And he's also incredibly charming, a straight shooter who doesn't like to eat at fancy restaurants, wears the same blue jacket as street sweepers in Paris and rides a bike around town to every evening event.

Much like last year's fashion star of the festival, US Vogue creative director Grace Coddington with her turn in The September Issue, this year local fashion fans will fall in love with Cunningham. Bill Cunningham New York documents his journey from milliner for the society ladies of New York to a writer at Women's Wear Daily to his time at Details magazine and his long-time role at the Times. Like Coddington, he faces a battle against the commercialisation of modern fashion, with the onslaught of celebrity and what he describes as "cookie-cutter sameness".

"A lot of people have taste but they don't have the daring to be creative. Here we are in an age of cookie-cutter sameness; there are few that are rarities," he says in the film.

It's those few rarities that Cunningham, in his early 80s, has dedicated his life to documenting on film (and all of his work is on film; rolls and rolls of it).

Director Richard Press was inspired to make the documentary after working with Cunningham on his pages at the Times as a freelance graphic designer.

"I had always loved what he did, and had always thought that it was important and really interesting work. But for me, the impetus for the movie was who he is as a person - how he lives his life, his ethics, his obsessive interest in his work and his way of being as a person was really what interested me and what I thought would make a good movie," says Press, on the phone from New York.

That movie took 10 years to make, explains Press - eight years to convince the notoriously private subject to be involved, and two years to film it. "Given how private he is, and given that he didn't really understand what it meant for someone to make a documentary about somebody, we were constantly negotiating with him to have access to him. He just wants to do his work, he doesn't want to be bothered with anything else."

Eventually, Cunningham began to appreciate how dedicated the filming team were and allowed them access to his tiny studio apartment in the famous Carnegie Hall, where he slept on a mattress among rows of filing cabinets full of negatives.

"I knew he took his work seriously, but I had no idea that it was almost to the exclusion of everything else in his life," explains Press, who has obvious respect and admiration for his subject. "He really does this one thing, and that's kind of his life. He doesn't live the way most people live."

There is a heartbreaking moment in the documentary when Philip Gefter, the film's producer, asks Cunningham about his personal life and attending church every Sunday, presumably trying to form a connection between the two (Cunningham bluntly but delightfully asks, "are you trying to ask if I'm gay?"). You want to give Bill a hug and tell Gefter to leave him alone so he can get on with his work.

It's easy to see why so many fashion characters agreed to be interviewed by Press for the film: they all love Cunningham, from downtown club kids to uptown society queens.

"He's an artist," explains club kid Kenny Kenny, "he's incredibly kind," says philanthropist Annette de la Renta, and he's the man the everybody gets dressed for according to Anna Wintour.

All of these figures were completely lovely, says Press.

"All of it had to do with the fact they all love Bill. They have so much affection for him, the experience was really a pleasure. "

There are a couple of questions left unanswered by the documentary: the main one being what Cunningham thinks of the recent surge in popularity of street style online. He probably thinks it's "marvellous", a word he utters often throughout the film - which he has not seen.

"He's given us his blessing, and he knows what's in the movie, but he says 'oh child, you made this movie, have fun and I hope you're successful with it'. But he's too busy," says Press.

And to further prove how humble he has stayed, look no further than the premiere of the film at the New Directors event at MoMA in March. Cunningham came and covered it, putting it in his Evening Hours column - but omitted to say the opening night film was all about him. So how has he managed to stay so modest and removed?

"I don't know; it's how he's wired. That question is really the challenge for all of us," says Press. "How does anyone live their life with ethics and purity of purpose? It sounds kind of preachy and I don't mean it to sound that way. But we're all faced with this every day - how do you keep your integrity? - and somehow Bill has managed to not be compromised. He's really lived his life on his own terms, and frankly I have no idea how he does it.

"Like he says in the film: to do that in New York City is almost impossible."

Viva's fashionable picks from the NZ Film Festival

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Joan Rivers is an icon, most famous for her sardonically hilarious red carpet commentary - and now with her own documentary. The film-makers followed the comedian for a year, pulling together footage for a wonderful portrayal of showbiz and a true entertainer.

Sessions: Friday July 9, Saturday July 10, Sunday July 11, Tuesday July 13.

I Am Love
Described as a "lush, operatic Italian drama about a clannish family of wealthy Milanese industrialists", this stars fashion favourite Tilda Swinton, who wears incredible costumes commissioned from Raf Simons of Jil Sander, and Fendi.

Sessions: Thursday July 8, Wednesday July 14.

Gainsbourg
It's fashionable to like Serge Gainsbourg, the famous French 60s singer whose conquests read like a who's-who of beautifully chic French ladies - Brigitte Bardot, Juliette Greco and Jane Birkin. We'll be watching this big-screen bio for the 1960s outfits, and keeping an eye out for the "occasional puppet action".

Sessions: Saturday July 17, Tuesday July 20.

The Runaways
Be inspired by the 1970s rock 'n' roll costumes in this biographical film, which tells the story of the band that launched Joan Jett's career. It stars that girl from Twilight, but don't hold that against it.

Sessions: Thursday July 15, Friday July 16.

* Bill Cunningham New York at the New Zealand Film Festival 2010, Friday July 9, Thursday July 15, Thursday July 22. Visit nzff.co.nz for more information, or phone Ticketek to book tickets, 0800 TICKETEK.