Bill Cunningham: Facades is at once, an elaborate game of dress-up and a thorough documentation of American fashion, running the gamut from colonial to contemporary styles. Initially a photo essay printed in paperback and published during the spring of 1978, the 88 gelatin prints donated by the photographer are now on display at the New York Historical Society in an exhibition of the same name.

Fashion is cannibalistic. Guest curator Alexis Carreño takes this statement as the point of departure for the exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum.

I wasn’t bothered by the strangers who were carving hieroglyphics into my carpet with their cigarettes. My two social circles were mixing swimmingly and that was all that mattered.