Those who know the late Bill Cunningham might have a limited knowledge of him. They might only know him through his great work as a fashion photographer for the New York Times. Mark Bozek’s The Times of Bill Cunningham is the second documentary about the man. And it shows at least one or two of the hats he wore before he got that plum job. One of those hats, pardon the pun, is as a milliner for pre-supermodels like Jean Shrimpton. She’s of many names that Bozek forgets to name drop in a genre that inherently has to name drop. Cunningham did work with so many people, like the Kennedys, that no one can possibly name them all.

We see these people in a fashion documentary that is basically archive photos galore. It’s a kind of visual arrangement that excites me as much as it gives me hesitations. Thankfully, Bozek accompanies those images with Cunningham as one of the movie’s narrators. The other narrator is one of the greatest in television history. That’s Sarah Jessica Parker, who takes her time to make her impression in this documentary. Nonetheless, Cunningham is both self-effacing yet full of wonder. He recounts his efforts to bring his millinery practice to Paris during the Second World War. This reminds the audience of that glamour existed during rough times in history. This is a duality he’s mindful of especially in his later work.

Bozek’s interview of Cunningham in 1994 made for this documentary’s basis. And he chose to expand on a subject that has these subtle dualities. There’s at least a potential in this choice, but he could have touched more on the inherent elitism in fashion. It’s a part of the industry that Cunningham eventually disavowed. Sure, people’s ethical decisions don’t have to be as titanic. But he could have interrogated the difference between Cunningham’s early career decisions and later ones. Filmmakers choose subjects they have strong feelings for, but sometimes, praise and hindsight make people blind.

There’s also an aspect of Bill Cunningham’s life that Bozek didn’t want touch, possibly out of respect. Cunningham came from a conservative Catholic family. They disapproved of his work in fashion so much that even living with his extended family became intolerable. This also might have influenced his early ethical compromises in Chez Ninon. I don’t want to speculate on his sexual orientation but we could have had some illumination here. We’re living at an age where oppressed people need at least one more role model. He could have been one of those.

But this documentary about the man has enough insight to cover what it lacks. I can’t dislike both the man and this movie about his because his humility shines through. He’s not like most people within the arts industry who pretend to know what they’re talking about. He sees no need to save face in front of media scrutiny. The public has never seen most of these photos until now. And they encapsulate a relativist open mindedness and a working class outlook in an inherently upper class industry. Cunningham belongs as one of the fashion industry’s greatest historians.

Beginning next Friday, February 28, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema is screening a two-week run of The Times of Bill Cunningham. Click on the link for more information.