Fashion celebrity, textile expert and interior designer Iris Apfel, known for her unique eye-catching style, has died. She was 102.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Her death was confirmed by her commercial agent, Lori Sale, who called Apfel "extraordinary." No cause of death was given.
Born August 29, 1921, Apfel was famous for her bold outfits, mixing haute couture and oversized costume jewellery. A classic Apfel look would, for instance, pair a feather boa with strands of chunky beads, bangles and a jacket decorated with Native American beadwork.
With her big, round, black-rimmed glasses, bright red lipstick and short white hair, she stood out at every fashion show she attended.
Her style was the subject of museum exhibits and a documentary film, Iris, directed by Albert Maysles.
"I'm not pretty, and I'll never be pretty, but it doesn't matter," she once said. "I have something much better. I have style."
Apfel enjoyed late-in-life fame on social media, amassing nearly 3 million followers on Instagram, where her profile declares: "More is more & Less is a Bore." On TikTok, she drew 215,000 followers as she waxed wise on things fashion and style and promoted recent collaborations.
"Working alongside her was the honour of a lifetime," Sale said in a statement. "She was a visionary in every sense of the word. She saw the world through a unique lens - one adorned with giant, distinctive spectacles that sat atop her nose."
Apfel was an expert on textiles and antique fabrics. She and her husband Carl owned a textile manufacturing company, Old World Weavers, and specialised in restoration work, including projects at the White House under six different US presidents. Apfel's celebrity clients included Estee Lauder and Greta Garbo.
Apfel's own fame blew up in 2005 when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City hosted a show about her, describing her style as "both witty and exuberantly idiosyncratic.
Her originality is typically revealed in her mixing of high and low fashions -- Dior haute couture with flea market finds, 19th-century ecclesiastical vestments with Dolce & Gabbana lizard trousers.The museum said her "layered combinations" defied "aesthetic conventions" and "even at their most extreme and baroque" represented a "boldly graphic modernity."
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, was one of several museums around the country that hosted a travelling version of the show. Apfel later decided to donate hundreds of pieces to the Peabody -- including couture gowns -- to help them build what she termed "a fabulous fashion collection." The Museum of Fashion & Lifestyle near Apfel's winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, also plans a gallery dedicated to displaying items from Apfel's collection.
Apfel was born in New York City to Samuel and Sadye Barrel. Her mother owned a boutique.
Apfel's fame in her later years included appearances in ads for brands like MAC cosmetics and Kate Spade. She also designed a line of accessories and jewellery for Home Shopping Network, collaborated with H&M on a sold-out-in-minutes collection of brightly-coloured apparel, jewellery and shoes, put out a makeup line with Ciate London, an eyeglass collection with Zenni and partnered with Ruggable on floor coverings.
She called herself the "accidental icon," which became the title of a book she published in 2018 filled with her mementos and style musings. Odes to Apfel are abundant, from a Barbie in her likeness to T-shirts, glasses, artwork and dolls.
Apfel's husband predeceased her. They had no children.
Australian Associated Press
