“More is more and less is a bore”
There was great sadness in the fashion industry when Iris Apfel died recently at the age of 102. What was her fascination?
Refreshingly individual
Minimalism, as celebrated by the Quiet Luxury brands, was not their thing. Why wear a discreet brooch when you can add what feels like 3 kilos of jewelry consisting of many bangles and necklaces to an already spectacular outfit?
The colors, shapes and fabrics that Iris Apfel combined were always extraordinary – elegant and spectacular at the same time. Her distinguishing features were huge glasses and deep red lipstick. She didn’t follow trends, she celebrated her individual style.
As soon as you saw a picture of Iris Apfel, it became clear how uniform all the other protagonists of the fashion industry, who see themselves as highly individual, appear.
Curiosity as a life principle
“If you can be amazed, have a sense of humor and remain curious … that keeps you young, almost like a child, open to new people and things and ready for the next adventure,” writes Iris Apfel in her autobiography “Iris Apfel. Accidental Icon”, which was also published in a German translation in 2019.
Iris Apfel exudes this desire to remain open and curious. An art historian by training, she began working as an office assistant for a fashion magazine before writing herself and setting up an interior design business with her future husband.
The two began to produce new historical fabrics and worked with specialized weavers throughout Europe. This took them all the way to the White House in Washington, where they supplied historically reproduced fabrics for many decades.
While many others would adorn themselves with the splendor of this house, it hardly seems worth mentioning in her biography. This modesty is fascinating: More being than appearance.
The flamboyance of her outward appearance was not the work of stylists but the result of her own great discipline and the joy of discovering new things. She herself defines style as an attitude.
Wrinkles are perfectly fine
She cleverly quotes her beloved husband Carl Apfel, who complimented her at a gala dinner: “Baby, you’re the only one here with a face of your own”.
She didn’t believe in cosmetic surgery. One of the largest international modeling agencies hired Iris Apfel at the age of 97 for catwalk and photo campaigns. The cosmetics brand Mac developed a limited edition of beauty products with her, which sold out in no time at all.
New York Fashion Week Spring 2016 © WENN, Alamy Stock Photo
She loved fashion and saw no reason to dress inconspicuously like many people her age. As a result, 3.1 million people followed the Instagram account that was run in her name, as she didn’t think much of social media herself.
While she considered artificial intelligence to be a blessing in many areas, such as medicine, the danger of relying too much on the smartphone seemed too great. She said: “Your smartphone is not your brain.”
Far too rare
We would like to see many more men and women like Iris Apfel, who follow their path with discipline and make the world more colorful and interesting with their styling.
Age-appropriate clothing was a foreign concept for Iris Apfel. She felt it was polite to dress in an interesting way to provide inspiration to the eyes of others instead of looking “as if I’ve just come out of the shower”.
She loved accessories, which she often found at markets when traveling. She named good shoes as the most important accessory: “If your hair is in order and you wear good shoes, you can get away with anything”.
Let’s take a leaf out of Iris Apfel’s book and combine fabrics, colors and shapes more boldly. What could possibly happen?
If you fancy seeing Iris Apfel and her dry New York humor in action, we recommend the documentary IRIS by Albert Maysles, which was made in 2014 and is available to download from Apple TV.
Documentary IRIS 2015 by Albert Maysles
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Cover picture: Iris Apfel 100th Birthday Celebration NYC © Alamy Stock Photo
