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The New York Times bestseller

“[An] obscenely enjoyable romp . . . [Fashion Climbing] leaves the readers gasping for more.” —The New York Times Book Review

The untold story of a New York City legend’s education in creativity and style

For Bill Cunningham, New York City was once the land of freedom, glamour, and, above all, style. Growing up in a lace-curtain Irish suburb of Boston, secretly trying on his sister’s dresses and spending his evenings after school within the city’s chicest boutiques, Bill dreamed of a life dedicated to fashion. But his desires were a source of shame for his circle of relatives, and after falling by the wayside of Harvard, he had to fight them tooth-and-nail to pursue his love.

When he arrived in New York, he reveled in people-watching. He spent his nights at opera openings and gate-crashing extravagant balls, where he would remember of the styles, new and old, watching how the gowns moved, how the jewels hung, how the hair laid on every head. This was once his education, and the birth of the democratic and exuberant taste that he came to be famous for as a photographer for The New York Times. After two style mavens took Bill under their wing, his creativity thrived and he made a name for himself as a designer. Taking at the alias William J.–because designing under his circle of relatives’s name would have been a disgrace to his parents–Bill became one of the vital era’s most outlandish and celebrated hat designers, catering to movie stars, heiresses, and artists alike. Bill’s mission was once to bring happiness to the world by making women an inspiration to themselves and everyone who saw them. These were halcyon days when fashion was once all he ate and drank. When he was once broke and hungry he’d stroll past the store windows on Fifth Avenue and feed himself on beautiful things.

Fashion Climbing is the story of a young man striving to be the person he was once born to be: a true original. But even though he was once one of the vital city’s most recognized and treasured figures, Bill was once also certainly one of its most guarded. Written with his infectious joy and one-of-a-kind voice, this memoir was once polished, neatly typewritten, and safely stored away in his lifetime. He held off on sharing it–and himself–until his passing. Between these covers, is an education in style, an effervescent tale of a bohemian world as it once was once, and a final gift to the readers of certainly one of New York’s great characters.