In the introduction to the book "Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel" (2007) by Eric Boman, Harold Koda, the former curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, quotes Oscar Wilde's famous words: "either be a work of art or wear a work of art." However, Koda points out that there are people "who have the confidence, imagination, and means to do both."
Iris Apfel, known for her roles as a decorator, interior designer, antique fabric expert, style icon, and the face of many brands, unquestionably fits this description. Apfel passed away yesterday at the age of 102 from natural causes at her home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Apfel, an eccentric maximalist, turned into a fashion icon later on in her life, after the Met's Costume Institute organized an exhibition titled "Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection" in her honor. Originally intended to be a simple display of Apfel's diverse collection of jewelry and accessories with clothing as a mere backdrop, the event evolved into a celebration of her unique approach to fashion.
While many of us believe that wearing designer pieces will impress those who see us and elevate our status, Apfel interpreted fashion differently. She embraced a style that involved mixing and matching various elements, from designer clothes to one-of-a-kind craft pieces or affordable finds, blending Western and non-Western influences seamlessly (in this she was very similar to another maximalist icon of style, Anna Piaggi, as highlighted a while back in this post). Rather than viewing fashion as a serious facade, Apfel saw it as a playful and ironic game, enriching her life in unexpected ways.
Born Iris Barrel in 1921 in Queens, New York, Apfel grew up in a family with some ties to the word of fashion. Her gradfather was a master tailor, while her mother owned a boutique (her father instead was in the glass and mirror business). She studied Art History at New York University before transferring to the University of Wisconsin, where she studied museum administration and wrote her term paper on American jazz, conducting interviews with leading jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington (since there were no books in the university library about this subject; her willingness to seek information firsthand serves as a valuable lesson - never hesitate to go directly to the source!)
After working at Women's Wear Daily, she became an assistant to fashion illustrator Robert Goodman and then started working with interior designer Elinor Johnson. She then launched her own decorating practice and married Carl Apfel in 1948. The couple founded Old World Weavers in 1950, specializing in weaving reproductions of antique period fabrics (the company was sold in 1992).
The work at the company was exciting, but also pretty intense as the Apfels had to travel to find the textiles and the mills able to reproduce them. Yet these experiences allowed them to develop a passion for visiting flea markets, something that fueled Apfel's unique sense of style but also provided inspiration for her interior design projects, which attracted clients like Greta Garbo and Estée Lauder.
Her remarkable career included nine restoration projects at the White House (under Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton), a task that won her the nickname of the "First Lady of Fabric."
In 2005, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum honored her with the exhibition "Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection," showcasing 90 of her complete fashion ensembles and 1,000 accessories, along with outfits worn by her husband.
For the exhibition (the first at the Costume Institute dedicated to a living person who was not a designer - you wished they would come up with more of these events, rather than focus on blockbuster exhibitions...), Apfel personally styled the mannequins, infusing them with her distinctive touch. The exhibition's success led to it being showcased in other museums, including the Norton Museum of Art in Florida. In 2010, Apfel generously donated her entire "Rare Bird" fashion collection to the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.
The exhibition at the Costume Institute was a maximalist spectacle showcasing her passion, or rather visceral appetite, for fashion: renowned designs from houses like Dior, Lanvin, Oscar de la Renta, Gianfranco Ferré, James Galanos, Simonetta, Giorgio Armani, Nina Ricci, Christian Lacroix were on display, accessorised with Transylvanian belts, a necklace composed of wooden hands and 19th-century South American wood rosary beads (more recently replicated by Daniel Roseberry in Schiaparelli's Haute Couture A/W 23 collection), Tibetan necklaces, a Venetian doge's hat and even a ponytail made with horsehair sample for weaving upholstery fabric.
Writing about her modus operandi, Harold Koda defines it in Boman's "Rare Bird" as "the 'anything goes' bravura of style at its most imaginative".
In the exhibition and in the book by Boman that accompanied it, rare pieces like a Chinese skirt from the Qing Dynasty were juxtaposed to flea market discoveries such as super kitsch yet super fun and cheap bangles with googly eyes, and more.
The displays also included the very first Haute Couture piece she bought, a Lanvin orangey-red coat with a big cockade, while the emphasis on the accessories in the event was almost a tribute to her mother. It was indeed her mother who taught young Iris the importance of transforming the most basic and cheapest dress with a striking accessory.
This Costume Institute exhibition generated interest and amplified her popularity, thrusting Apfel into the public eye and reinforcing her fame. She also became the subject of the 2014 documentary film "Iris," directed by Albert Maysles. Additionally, Apfel penned her first book, "Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, Musings of a Geriatric Starlet," in 2018.
Her joyful demeanor, trademark round glasses, red lipstick, and maximalist style landed her advertising campaigns with a variety of companies such as Kate Spade (2015) and Citroën ( 2016), and collaborations with make-up, fashion, interior design and wearable tech companies (MAC Cosmetics in 2011; WiseWear in 2016, and Nude glassware in 2018, just to mention a few ones).
In 2018 she even styled two Barbie dolls in her likeness, meticulously down to the accessories and her iconic glasses and, when she turned 100, Apfel created a capsule collection with H&M.
In 2019, Apfel signed with IMG for global representation in modeling, appearances, and endorsements. The Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, unveiled the Iris and Carl Apfel wing in her honor in the same year.
In 2022, Apfel lent her design expertise to create The Royal Poinciana Plaza's surfboard Christmas tree in Palm Beach, reflecting her personal style with vibrant colors.
Apfel's husband Carl passed away at the age of 100 in 2015. The couple didn't have any children by choice, so Apfel doesn't have any immediate survivors.
What lies ahead for Apfel? Perhaps another major exhibition, a film, or a fashion series. However, for now, let's reflect on the lessons she imparted (fashion design students, take notes!). One lesson revolves around irony - a quality often absent in the very serious world of modern fashion. As she states in Boman's "Rare Bird," "Wit and humor are key components to my philosophy of dressing. Never take yourself or an outfit too seriously."
Another poignant quote pertains to the notion of style and individuality: "Style is quite impossible to define, but I'll give it a go. Like charisma, you know it when you see it. Not too many possess it: unlike fashion, it cannot be bought (…) It's an offshoot of personality, not a cover-all, and it's concerned with real life, not just high fashion. Sometimes it seems to belong more to street people than to the haute monde, as it often grows out of a lack of material things. Most importantly, it must be real - yours - not a slavish copy of someone else's."
Boman's book also contains a charming anecdote from Apfel's youth that reminds us all to feed our minds and not only concentrate on our appearance. While in Chicago, she intended to go shopping in Marshall Field's millinery department. Waylaid by a bookstore, she discovered two tables laden with English and American poetry. Despite her initial lack of knowledge on the subject, her insatiable curiosity compelled her to stop and explore. "Two hours later I was twelve books richer and all the loot was gone," she recounted, concluding, "Better to put something in my head than on my head."
Lastly, in Iris Apfel's life there's a reflection on age and achieving fame later than expected: as Apfel's fame soared in her later years, she secured representation with an agency at the age of 97- prior to which, she had managed all her deals independently. Her life encapsulated optimism, irony, knowledge, curiosity, and uniqueness, and her achievements remind us that we become genuinely rich not when we can afford a Haute Couture designs, but when we can see a kaleidoscopically colorful gem in every small pebble.
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