Iris Apfel, born on August 29th, 1921 and passed away on March 1st, 2024, finally came to be appreciated as a distinctive and accomplished fashion stylist in her advanced years. The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute in New York seized a last-minute opportunity in its 2005 exhibit series to showcase Apfel, who died at the age of 102. Apfel was familiar to several curators as a collector accumulating a vast collection of clothes, costume jewellery being her favourite, ranging from high-end couture to local market finds. When the need arose, they turned to Apfel, borrowing numerous items from her vast collection.
Apfel’s unique flair for style shone when she put together daily outfits, combining multiple items at once, resulting in a vibrant dazzle that eventually led to her being asked to curate the displays. Despite a lack of publicity funds and being largely recognised within the interior decor industry, the exhibition, Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection, became a major hit following visitor’s online endorsements. The show traveled to various American museums, constantly altering exhibits upon Apfel’s insistence to reclaim her pieces for personal use.
Apfel enjoyed a diverse familial background in the realms of fashion and decor; her grandfather a proficient tailor in Russia, her father, Samuel Barrel, furnishing mirrors to high-end decorators; and her stylish mother, Sadye (maiden name Asofsky), owning a fashion boutique. Iris was born and brought up in the countryside of Astoria, in the Queens neighborhood of New York.
Iris relished her weekly trips via the subway to Manhattan since childhood, frequenting the second-hand stores in Greenwich Village. Although not remarkably striking in her teenage years, Iris stood out with her distinct style, attracting the attention of a Brooklyn department store owner, who complimented her on it. During the grim Depression era, all family members were adept at sewing, draping, gluing, and painting, enabling them to fashion a look or decorate a room inexpensively, a skill more valuable than any scholastic education.
Apfel’s composition of her clothing pieces involved intricate cadenzas, yet adhered to a primary, tailored structure much akin to jazz – not to make an outright statement but to engage in a conversation.
Iris Apfel pursued her academic interest in art history at the esteemed New York University before getting her teaching qualification. She used her license briefly in Wisconsin, but then gravely returned to New York to work at Women’s Wear Daily. With the onset and aftermath of World War II, furniture and fabrics became scarce. Apfel found a means to contribute by procuring antiques and textiles. Her mantra was that if she couldn’t locate it, she would either craft it herself or reproduce it in an affordable manner.
In 1948 she wedded Carl Apfel and together they emerged as a formidable decoration duo. Her spouse was the brains behind their business operations while Iris had the artistic vision. She, and her husband, eventually established Old World Weavers in 1952, a venture predicated on commissioning traditional creators globally, when she couldn’t procure fabrics befitting a period decor. Iris would derive patterns from vintage pieces and get those produced at a friend’s family mill.
Renowned for her eccentric fashion choices, Iris’ aesthetics usually comprised multi-layered ensembles over a smooth, tailored base, akin to jazz music – more of a dialogue than a mere statement. Her fashion approach made her one of the last style provocateurs of the 20th century who perceived themselves more as art pieces. Iris, however, was not an open exhibitionist like the Marchesa Casati and was funnier than Diana Vreeland, the formidable Vogue editor, owing to her theatrical comic timing.
Her wardrobe was replete with sale-price samples, selected not for their full retail price but for the quality of cutting, fabric, craftwork and colour vibrancy. Iris was known to don these over thrifty pyjamas or under a Peking Opera outfit, often layered with multiple layers of beaded ornaments. Money, she argued, was not the currency for personal style – it was all about attitude. She believed that prettiness was fleeting and that beauty could potentially erode one’s inner character, hence attitude was the only attribute that mattered.
Old World Weavers, under the guidance of the Apfels, quietly restored the White House serving nine administrations, also working across several luxury hotels and private residences before selling the business in 1992. They retreated to a peaceful existence in their Park Avenue, New York apartment, where the interior mirrored Apfel’s fashion sense, unusable clothing pieces being transformed into cushion covers. They also possessed a holiday home in Palm Beach, accentuated by year-round festive decoration, soft toys and significant folk art pieces. Apfel found joy in the daily routine of creating her fashion ensemble, akin to how a food connoisseur might relish cooking.
Albert Maysles, a renowned documentary film maker, followed her for his project ‘Iris’ (2014), capturing her self-coined persona of an ‘elderly débutante’ engaging wittily with her fashionable friends or being amused by a Halloween outfit designed in her signature style – spectacles and an abundance of bracelets.
Despite her retirement following the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit and the release of her book ‘Rare Bird of Fashion’ (2007), Apfel found herself busier than ever in her later decades; she even underwent a hip replacement due to tripping over an Oscar de la Renta dress. Her numerous ventures found her gracing the cover of Dazed and Confused, curating window displays at Bergdorf Goodman, and engaging in design and consultancy work. Known for her oversized spectacles, her face became an iconic caricature.
Despite her extensive portfolio in fashion, Apfel believed in her obligations to her fashion students at the University of Texas, guiding them through the importance of creativity, craftsmanship, and the enjoyments to be found beyond the digital world.
Apfel’s career was a testament to the idea that it’s never too late; in 2018 she published a book of memoirs ‘Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon’, she signed a contract with modeling agency IMG in 2019, and launched a makeup campaign with Ciaté London in the same year. Reprising his role, documentarian Albert Maysles followed her journey once more for ‘Iris’ (2014), portraying Apfel’s lively interactions with the high-fashion world and her amusement at Halloween attires mocking her signature look.
She expressed that nothing in this world is truly ours, not even for those who accumulate things. The idea is to take pleasure in them as much as possible before parting ways. Carl passed away in 2015.