Review: "On the Street"

I almost never complain about media that's informative and I usually have a huge soft spot for academic types, but after following New York Times's reporter, Bill Cunningham, and his video segment, "On the Street," for the past few years, I regretfully say that The New York Times needs to find someone new who knows something about fashion, trends, and popular culture in New York City.

The latest "On the Street" segment (http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/11/fashion/1247468032311/on-the-street-graphic.html) covers stripes (the byproduct of the current nautical rage in fashion and retail). In the clip, Cunningham shows examples of people wearing stripes around New York. Not only does he not attribute the flurry of stripes to the trend, but he's months to over half a year late on pointing it out. He also erroneously throws in a photo of a Foot Locker salesperson in uniform, which has vertical stripes.

Bill Cunningham is a really cute man who seems genuinely enthusiastic about trends and personal style in New York City and is considered one of the first street fashion photographers, but that doesn't change the fact that he's been missing from action and has lost his grip on what's going on in fashion and New York City. "On the Street" currently provides little to NYTimes.com readers; it's time for a new "On the Street" photographer / reporter who can provide timely and accurate fashion and pop culture information that New Yorkers don't already know.