By Robecca Leyden.
Today, news broke of the passing of the one and only Iris Apfel. Interior and fashion designer, businesswoman, model, influencer and fashion rebel. While the world has lost a beautifully unique, talented woman; it's hard to feel too sad about a person who lived an incredible life - till 102. I'm taken back to the time I was introduced to Apfel: It's 2015 and a friend invited me to a private screening of the documentary IRIS. Which if you haven't already watched, is fantastic, and elevated the designer from famous in New York to world famous. I fell in love. So did the world.
The charm of Iris was that in a world that's becoming harder and harder to be an individual- think not only the rise of the internet but the concretion of social media as the strongest lens to with we view culture forever more - she was unashamedly herself.
With her oversized oval glasses and violent clash of patterns, textures & accessories she was a walking work of art that become synonymous with the term maximalism.
Born in 1921 Queens, New York, Although raised on a farm by her parents and grandparents, she often rode the subway in to explore Manhattan where like the total 1930s alt-it-girl she was, fell in love with Greenwich Village .While still a child, she shopped its antique stores, starting her extraordinary collection of jewellery. Iconic.
In 1948, she married Carl Apfel. Two years later, in 1950, they launched the textiles firm Old World Weavers and ran it for 42 years until they retired in 1992.
Carl and Iris Apfel, early in their marriage.
Women were often expected to be stay at wives once married, in fact apart from some places allowing married women to be teachers, it was a general rule of thumb a woman would finish her job. Reflecting on the success of Old World Weavers in a 2018 interview Iris mused, "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."
She continued, "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."
After selling the company the couple stayed on for another 13 years. Iris became known for her eclectic style, incorporating and sourcing fabrics from all over the world. Over her career, Iris Apfel took part in a variety of design restoration projects, including work at the White House for nine presidents.
Among many, many other accolades, in 2005 The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City premiered an exhibition about Iris Apfel's style entitled Rara Avis (Rare Bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel. It was the museum's first time showcasing an exhibit about clothing and accessories focused on a living person who wasn't a designer.
Iris Apfel wearing Chado Ralph Rucci and jewelry of her own design in her New York City home via Architectural Digest. The living room’s bleached-oak boiserie is 18th-century French, and the door hardware is by P. E. Guerin; the screen is also French, while the chair at left, covered in an Old World Weavers tapestry fabric, is 17th-century Sicilian.
One of the most wonderful things about the love story between Iris and Carl was that his dream was to watch and support her dream. I'm not suggesting that all husbands should be this way, but wasn't it refreshing to see a genuinely happy couple where there seemed to be no pressure on either to take the dominant role? In the documentary IRIS mentioned above, filmed shortly before his 2015 passing. "I would go along with her. I'd take my little toolbox, hang the pictures," he said. "And I got a kick out of watching her make something beautiful."
Iris and Carl in 2008.
When asked why the couple never had children Iris once stated "I don't believe in a child having a nanny, so it wasn't what we were going to do, but also having children is like protocol. You're expected to. And I don't like to be pigeonholed," she said. This is an incredible stance to have during the 1950s-60s when it was expected to have children or something was wrong with you. While it's obviously great if you want to have kids, it isn't for everyone, and often those people feel an underserved pressure to conform.
The last bit of info I would like to leave you with is that, at age 97 In 2019, Iris signed a modelling contract with one of the biggest agencies in the world, IMG. ICONIC.
So next time you're questioning yourself, your choices, your taste just remember you'll be so much happier if you lean into the things that make you, you. RIP Iris, I'm sure she's reunited with Carl somewhere.
A handful of our fave looks:
