A beginner’s guide to: Iris Apfel

The fashionable life.

With so many creative people making up the rich history of the fashion industry, and still dominating today, it can be hard to keep up. We here at FJ know this, so we’re going to make it a little easier for you. We’ll be bringing you a crash course in some of the most fashionable icons around. Starting with Iris Apfel.

She’s 94 years old
While not exactly your average young up-and-comer, Iris is (in her own words) a geriatric starlet. Originally an interior designer, she is now known as a true fashion icon and accessories queen.

She started from the bottom
While Iris has always been a New Yorker, she was born across the East River, spending her childhood in the working class neighbourhood of Astoria. She was surrounded by fashion from a young age as her mother owned a boutique, but their polar opposite styles meant that Iris forged her own path.

After studying art history, Iris worked at Women’s Wear Daily and then became an assistant to Robert Goodman. Thanks to this fashion illustrator’s connections to Elinor Johnson, Iris cracked the interior design business and started her own company, Old World Weavers.

Her icon status really kicked off in her eighties
Although Iris was well known on the New York design circuit, it wasn’t until a certain exhibition at The Met that cemented her throne in the fashion world.

That Met exhibition…
Iris was also known for her insane costume jewellery collection. Due to a last minute exhibition cancellation, Iris got the call asking whether she would be willing to put together a selection and be the replacement exhibition. A replacement exhibition that drew record-breaking crowds.

She’s a collab Queen
You might’ve seen her killing it in the Spring campaigns at the start of 2015, starring next to the likes of Karlie Kloss and Tavi Gevinson. Oh, and she had her own MAC collection as well.

And an honorary professor
Couldn’t be more jealous of the fashion students at the University of Texas.

Iris did interior design work for the White House
Old World Weavers was the fabric business she shared with her husband, Carl. They specialised in restorations and worked for over nine presidents. Apparently, they had a bit of a problem with Jackie… What we’d pay for a White House version of Real Housewives.

Her number one fashion rule?
“I don’t have any rules because I would only be breaking them, so it’s a waste of time.”

She loves colour
In a place like her home, New York City, it’s easy to get caught up in an all black ensemble.  Iris doesn’t see this as stylish, rather as a uniform. “Colour is so important,” she says, “colour can raise the dead.”

She’s got perspective
As Iris is a modern day Confucius, we can leave you with another of her pearls of wisdom. “It’s better to be happy than well-dressed.”

Well said, Iris.