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The World’s Coolest Style Icon is 97!

I have long been fascinated by Iris Apfel. At 97 years old, the age defying nonagenerian is the coolest style icon in the world!

So, Who is Iris Apfel?

Iris Apfel is the Queen of Cool – she is a style icon and campaigner against ageism in the fashion industry. She is as much loved for her witty quotes as for her exhuberant sense of style, including those fabulous, signature oversized glasses!. However, her most most prized possession, isn’t a fashion item but Gussy, a hand-carved ostrich minibar that she designed in the 1970s!

Born in Queens, she found fame aged 83, when her eccentric sense of style was the subject of the Costume Institute’s 2004 exhibition, ‘Rara Avis: The Irreverent Iris Apfel’.

She’s gone on to star in the documentary film, Iris , collaborate on a make-up collection with MAC and model for Kate Spade, Alexis Bittar and Blue Illusion. She has more recently collaborated with wearable tech company WiseWear.

Over the past 40 years or so, she has cultivated a signature style that is both witty and quirky. Her originality is typically revealed in the way she mixes high end with cheap but chic fashion. But, her eclectic mix of layered clothes in different colours, textures, and patterns always project a striking graphic modernity.

Iris still lives in New York in a swanky loft apartment in Manhattan, thanks to her $22 million fortune.

Iris Apfel – Campaigner Against Ageism In The Fashion Industry

Iris flies the flag for fashion and the older generation. In an interview with The Telegraph, Iris Apfel tells them:

The fashion industry doesn’t just forget old people, it forgets middle-aged people,”The fashion industry is youth obsessed, which is totally insane from a financial point of view so I don’t feel sorry for them, they brought it on themselves. Many top designers will make very, very expensive dresses costing many, many thousands of dollars that young people can’t afford.

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She continues:

“They make these dresses on 16 year old bodies that can be purchased by women over 65/75 – those are the women in our country anyhow with the spendable income and the time and money to go shopping and they want to buy beautiful things, but it’s very hard to find things that are suitable for them. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Iris Apfel’s Inspiring Love Story

Iris and her husband Carl were married for 67 years. Carl sadly died just a few days short of his 101st birthday on 1st August 2015. The couple’s bond was as timeless as Iris’s style.

Along with her beloved husband, Carl, she founded Old World Weavers, an international textile manufacturing company.

Iris met Carl Apfel while staying at a resort on Lake George in upstate New York, according to an interview with The Guardian. “Our first date was Columbus Day,” Apfel said. “Thanksgiving, Carl proposed. Christmas I got blinged. Washington’s birthday, we were married. Their enduring love story spanned decades and is truly inspiring!

Iris Apfel – Author and Barbie Figurine!

If that isn’t impressive enough, she has also released a book and been immortalised in a mini-me barbie! Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, went on sale in March. She was recently interviewed by Harpers Bazaar about her new book, the state of fashion, and her Bergdorf Goodman pop-up shop with her old friend Linda Fargo.

The same month her book was released, Apfel also unveiled her barbie figurine on Instagram.

The toy bears an uncanny resemblance to Iris, complete with a spot-on wardrobe. The mini-me wears an embroidered emerald Gucci suit, a ruffled collar, layered necklaces, color blocked bangles, and that signature pair of round, oversized glasses.

Although Iris Apfel Barbie is one of a kind, this Autumn Barbie will release a “Styled By” Barbie, complete with glasses and necklaces from Apfel’s own Rara Avis collection.

Iris Apfel: On Fashion, Ageing and Plastic Surgery!

On Fashion

Express yourself – and ignore the fashion rules

Iris Apfel doesn’t have any fashion rules as she says breaking them would be a waste of time. Instead, she likes to improvise when it comes to putting an outfit together. She believes people are becoming less stylish and there’s so much sameness these days.

Accessories really do make an outfit

“My mother worshipped at the altar of the accessory,” Iris Apfel says. Growing up during the Great Depression, she followed her mother’s advice that all you needed was a black dress that you could then either dress up or dress down with clever accessories. She still follows this belief today, usually wearing a “good architectural outfit” – say, black trousers and a black cashmere sweater – which can then be transformed with accessories, and jewellery in particular. “Diana Vreeland and Coco Chanel both said, ‘Take off one accessory before leaving the house.’ But Iris says, ‘Put another one on.’”

On Ageing

Pretty doesn’t age well

Iris Apfel is ageing gracefully. “I’m not a pretty person. But I don’t like pretty so I don’t mind.” Iris recalls that she was told by an influential New York department store owner in her teens: “You’re not pretty but you have something that is better. You have style.” And, as we all know, looks fade but style lives on. Iris’ advice? Stay curious, keep busy and keep active. “Life should be a challenge.”

On Plastic Surgery

At all costs, avoid plastic surgery

Iris is testament to the transformative effect of bold colours, fabulous jewellery and a vibrant lipstick. “Have I had any plastic surgery? God, no. Some people I know have, and they come out looking like a Picasso.” She only approves of surgery if you have a pinocchio nose!

Iris Apfel’s Secrets To Success

Here are 10 secrets to success from Apfel, as outlined in her new book:

1. Don’t obsess over your age

“I never think about my age. Maybe that’s the ticket. I never think about it — it’s a passing thought. It’s just a number. … I’ve found that work is very healthy for me. I love what I do and I put my heart and soul into it,” she says.

2. Pick a partner who celebrates your successes

“Everyone he ever touched knows he was truly a Gentle Man,” Apfel writes of Carl, who died in 2015 at the age of 100. “His humor and generosity were legendary. We did almost everything together.

3. When something excites you, go for it

“I never expected people to know my name or recognize my face. I never expected to be called a fashion icon. I never expected museums to exhibit my clothing and accessories. I never expected to be a cover girl or the face of a cosmetics company in my nineties….”

4. “To stay young, you have to think young”

“When you get older, as I often paraphrase an old family friend, if you have two of anything, chances are one of them is going to hurt when you get up in the morning. But you have to get up and move beyond the pain. If you want to stay young, you have to think young. Having a sense of wonder, a sense of humor, and a sense of curiosity — these are my tonic,” she says.

5. Care about your own opinion above anyone else’s

“I never tried to fit in. It’s not that I went out of my way to be a rebel or do things that were not socially acceptable — unfortunately, I did have to learn how to play bridge when I was younger — but I learned early on that I have to be my own person to be content,” she says.

6. But don’t isolate yourself, either

“But if you don’t try to be part of things, forget it. That’s when your originality is going to work against you. Fit in first and then step out. There is a difference between being perceived of as original and being accepted, even loved for it, and being perceived as different and resented for it. You can have your cake and eat it, too.”

7. Money doesn’t buy success

“If you’re happy, have found love, are surrounded by good people, doing what you like and giving back to others, that’s success. Selling your soul for a buck is not worth the real price you pay — not to me, anyways,” says Apfel.

8. Style is not about spending money

“Style is not about wearing expensive clothes. You can have all kinds of money and have no style at all. You can be dressed in the latest couture, shod in ten-thousand-dollar shoes and be baubled to the nines, and look like a Christmas tree,” she writes. “It’s not what you wear but how you wear it.

9. Start new endeavors with one small step

“You only fail if you do not try,” says Apfel.

“I never thought that I couldn’t do something because I was a woman. I wanted to start a fabric business, so I just figured out how to do it. If I and thought about opening Old World Weavers too much, I probably wouldn’t have pursued my dream. Sometimes you just have to take action, even if it is a small step. In my ninety-some years of walking planet Earth, I have applied this philosophy to living — and dressing — and it has never steered me wrong.”

10. Don’t pretend you are younger than you are

“There’s nothing wrong with wrinkles. When you’re older, trying to look years younger is foolish, and you’re not fooling anyone. When you’re seventy-five and you get a face-lift, nobody is going to think you are thirty,” she says.